Its Only A Name
by crazyknarf
Summary: Hermione struggles with accepting her house, SLYTHERIN!(AAAHH THATS CRAZY) She finally learns to be a true slytherin, when she meets someone who tries to teach her differently! HPHG -sigh- CH 6&7&8 UP! YAY :D
1. One More Week

**Chapter One**

**One More Week**

"Come what may…come what may, I will love you until my dying day."

Hermione Anne Granger closed her eyes as the lyrics of her favourite song echoed through her mind. She had finally found a sense of complete relaxation that she had been longing for the entire summer. For most of her vacation she was busy with family. Either that, or her loud obnoxious, older sister was stressing her out. She was always throwing wild parties, having friends over, or giggling and gossiping over the phone. But these past few minutes had been the best for Hermione thus far. She sat up and looked in the mirror across from her. Her brown eyes seemed exhausted and dreary which was different from her usual perky self. She stared in disgust at her unruly frizzy brown hair which she had been stuck with her whole life. Just below her hairline sat her perfectly shaped eyebrows courtesy of her sister Jo. _At least she's good for something _the brunette thought chuckling to herself.

"Suddenly the world is such a perfect place," Hermione sunk back into her bed absorbing the music before falling asleep…

"Hermione! Where the hell is the phone?" Jo yelled after storming into the room and interrupting her sisters nap.

"Try checking that pile of crap on your bed. You might be surprised to find that it's where you left it." Hermione snapped angrily. "And clean up your bloody stuff once in a while Josephine."

"It's Jo! Don't ever call me that." She retorted shooting her sibling a cold glare. _I don't understand hoe she's so unorganized, yet she manages to achieve the best grades in her year. _The bushy-haired girl's thoughts were broken by the phone ringing. 

"Who is it this time? Bill?" Hermione inquired.

"Eww 'Mione! I got rid of that prat days ago!" She informed her in disgust. "This is Mark." _Merlin's beard Jo! This has gotta be the fourth guy this summer. And none of them are good enough for her anyway! She's much too smart, athletic and pretty. No wonder she has such a bad reputation back at Hogwarts. _The young witch glanced at her sister who was giggling flirtatiously into the reciever._ I wonder if she even likes this one. Sure he;s good looking but he's probably a bloody git._

" So Markie darling, would you like to come over later tonight?" Jo cooed into the phone. This question caught Hermione's attention. _No Jo! Please don't ruin my lazy evening, because heaven forbid I could have one noise free night. _Unfortunately for poor Hermione, Mark accepted easily.

"Great sweetie. I'll see you in a little while! I love ya!" the older sibling giggled. That girlish laugh made Hermione sick. _Ugh. What a tease. And god. I hate how she throws around words like 'I love you'. They're suppose to mean something when they are said. When will she ever learn…_ But Hermione did not feel like getting into another childish fight with Jo, so she stopped herself from arguing.

"Jo, are you and _Markie-poo_ gonna be in here?"

"Mmhmm. So you can make like a tree and leave."

"Fine. Just whatever ever you do, and I don't want to know what that would be, please stay off and far away from my things." The younger sibling pleaded as she picked up her muggle CD player. She then trudged across the wallpaper filled hallway into her mother's room. The room was filled with reminders of her parents. They had wedding and family photos perfectly hung on the walls, all of which were in chronological order. Also, the room had a floral theme which included the bed cover, curtains, pillows and the small window seat. She sprawled across the queen bed and flipped her muggle music back on.

Once again she was calmed by the sounds of the soothing love melody. All her thoughts of Hogwarts and returning to the Slytherin common room escaped her.

"One more week." She muttered before once more falling into a deep sleep. Although, this time she would not be disturbed for quite some time…

* * *

"Harry James Potter get your lazy ass out here. I am not feeling very patient boy so you better hurry it up. Time is money." Vernon Dursley commanded through the solid oak door which led to Harry's small bedroom. Harry cursed at his uncle angrily under his breath and slowly opened his weary emerald-colored eyes. All of his thoughts of last night returned to him. He had not yet received any information whatsoever from the Order, with the exception of a birthday card, and the other part of the two way mirror he shared with Sirius as a birthday gift. _What am I suppose to do with this thing anyway. They all know that I smashed my side late last year. I guess I could possibly repair it._

He thought, very annoyed with the members of the order. He was becoming anxious to get out of the Dursley's small home and return to Hogwarts. _The sooner the better._ Harry remembered that his uncle had called him approximately forty seconds ago, and rolled over reaching blindly for his glasses. He then hurriedly scrambled to make it to the hallway. Vernon fiercely scolded Harry for taking much too long to get ready, and told him to go downstairs and make Dudley some breakfast.

"And don't you be arguing with me boy, or you'll be having no dinner for a week. Maybe even two." Vernon ordered. _Blimey! No dinner?! _With that the wizard unwillingly followed his rather large uncle down to the kitchen. There Dudley sat, nearly breaking his delicate wooden chair, sipping a glass of fresh orange juice. Harry wandered over to the fridge to gather some food for his cousin.

"Hey Potty, I want blueberry pancakes. Perfectly cooked. Nice and gold around the edges. You should know how I like them." Dudley demanded childishly. _Geez! This kid is bigger than ever before and now he wants bloody pancakes?! A piece of fruit or a biscuit might do him some good._

"Too bad. Your getting waffles," the raven-haired boy replied snickering.

"I want blueberry waffles. I WANT THEM NOW!" the teenager complained. After making sure that Petunia and Vernon were out of the room, Harry whipped out his wand and pointed it right at Dudley in one swift, smooth movement. The obese Dursley child turned a pale shade of pink at this apparently frightening action.

"Listen Duddiekins," Harry mocked ridiculously. "Your going to have waffles, and your going to enjoy them very much. If you have any problems with that just let me know right away, and you can say goodbye to your chubby little tongue."

"Erm-uh w-waf-fles sound ok-kay I g-guess." Dudley managed to say as he squirmed in his seat.

" Yeah Duddy. Waffles sound damn good to me too." the wizard chuckled. _Muggles are so easy to persuade._ At that moment, Ron's owl Pigwideon flew in through the open kitchen window forcing Dudley to let out a girlish yelp. The green eyed boy merely rolled his eyes and beckoned the owl closer. He took the note from the tiny hyperactive owl's razor-sharp talons which had a surprisingly firm grasp. He then sluggishly unfolded and eagerly read the unusually short letter.

_Harry,_

How's it going mate? Haven't seen you in a while but hopefully soon. Can

you meet me and Ginny at the Leaky Cauldron tomorrow? Same time and place as always. I would write more but mum wants me to de-gnome the garden (You know her, I can't 'dilly-dally' as she would say).

Ron

And Ginny

Ps- Don't worry about a reply…we'll be there anyway.

Harry's mind was once again flooded with memories of Hogwarts, which was more of a home to him than anywhere else including the Dursley's. The last year seemed like a blur. He had successfully taken his OWLs, excelling mainly in Defense Against the Dark Arts which was his favourite class. These wonderful memories were soon overcome with thoughts of Voldemort. His scar seared with pain just thinking about it. He decided that it was crucial that he furthered his knowledge in the use of occlumency. If not, the effects of the dark lord's power could be catastrophic. He began to feel a strong hatred towards Voldemort but at the same time fear of the year to come.

I wonder who the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professer will be - thank Merlin that Dumbledore sacked Umbridge. Everyone hated the bloody git with her 'ahem ahem' s.

Dudley stupidly knocked over his expensive glass making it quickly and loudly shatter into thousands of tiny shards.Suddenly Harry was bumped back into the muggle world breaking his concentration, which forced him to nearly burn the waffles. _Idiot._

"Eeek! Duddiekins? Are you alright muffin-poo?? Duddy?" Pentunia squealed as the frail old woman scrambled to her son's aid at the brown kitchen table.

Harry shot a death glare at the lame whimpering teen. Dudley recovered from the situation and took full responsibility, too scared to lose his precious tongue. The wizard simply smirked and got back to buttering the virtually burnt waffles.

* * *

Jo ran down the spiral staircase into the main foyer to open the door. She quickly threw a sexy smile across her face and casually turned the brass doorknob. Of course, as she expected it was Mark. _Just the guy I'm looking for _she thought happily.

"Hey Jo," he greeted excitedly.

"Hey babe. You're here early."  
  
"The more time we get to spend together the better." Mark said coaxingly while intertwining his fingers with hers. _God he's so cheesy…_ the brunette thought to herself. She gave him a swift peck on the cheek to welcome him. He leaned in for another kiss except this time on the lips.

"Ah ah ahh," Jo held him back by holding her finger to his lips. She paused there for a second before dashing back up the staircase to her bedroom. She used this trick practically every time she had a new guy at her house. The boys typically followed her like lovesick maniacs. It was immature, but fun nonetheless. Butterflies arose in her stomach as she shut the door to her room and waited for Mark as he enthusiastically attempted to find her.

Of course, Mark had chased the bombshell up the stairs but shortly realized that he didn't know which door she had closed. He approached the first shut door he saw expecting her to open it.

"Jo love, where are you?" he called. Unfortunatly there was no response, so he proceeded, and opened the door himself. There he saw what looked to be Jo, smothered in the floral down comforter.

_Yeah, like she could already be asleep._ He crept up quietly to the bed and slipped in underneath the covers beside her. He squirmed and twisted his way over to her until there was hardly any space between them. At the last moment, the brunette opened her eyes and let out a piercing scream. She hastily sprung out from the fluffy covers. The sight of the blonde boy totally grossed her out.

Suddenly out of nowhere the door flung open revealing Jo in her pink tank top and jeans. She looked ready to kill.

"What the fuck are you doing with my sister you perverted bastard." She screamed in rage. There was definitely no way in hell that Mark could get out of this dilemma.

"No! Its not what you think Jo! You see I opened the door and I thought you were-"

"He was trying to get into bed with me the smarmy bastard."

"No! I was confused! I thought-"

"Mark Goffrey you disgust me you fowl, loathsome pig." Jo scolded. "Now you better get out of our house. And I would make it ridiculously fast if I were you."

"But-" Mark started. But he quickly stopped himself realizing that there was no way she would forgive or even listen to his reasoning and started to walk sadly out the door. He automatically held his head down in shame.

"Mark you're an idiot!" he mumbled to himself. As soon as he was clearly out of range Hermione simply laughed at her sister.

"So how long did that one last?"

"About three days or so. What did I see in him anyway?" Jo sighed questioning herself.

" I don't know Jo. I just don't know.

* * *

**A/N: Well guys this is my first chapter of my first fanfic. I want to know if it sucks, if its good, if its bad and blablabla! If theres anything you want to see in future chapters then definitely let me know. Im always open to any comments or critiques.**


	2. When Lions Meet Snakes

**Chapter Two**

**When Lions Meet Snakes**

When Harry stepped off the Knight Bus he found himself in a familiar place; there he was standing in front of the Leaky Cauldron. Alone. But not for too long this time. The old creaky building seemed nearly invisible to the muggle eye.

He turned to face the director Stan Shunpike and easily handed over a couple sickles and knuts.

"Thanks for riding the Knight Bus Harry, it's a pleasure to have you again. We hope to see you soooooooooon" The young directors voice trailed off as the Knight Bus headed off into the distance at an insanely fast pace. Harry collected his belongings and walked into the wizard pub.

He looked around for a few minutes until he recognized the two bright red-headed teenagers he was looking for.

"Weasleys," he muttered under his breath. Harry sighed as he continued towards the nearby table. "Hey guys. Long time no see." Harry smiled.

"Harry mate." Ron welcomed with a firm handshake. Next was Ginny who was also very happy to see Harry since the end of last year.

The trio had been great friends since the beginning of first year when Harry stuck with Ron instead of Draco Malfoy who ended up in Slytherin and was currently one of the trio's biggest rivals. Harry faintly remembered wanting to be friends with Hermione Granger on the Hogwarts Express. But then Hermione got put in Slytherin with her older sister Jo. Anyway – back to the Leaky Cauldron!

Ginny greeted Harry with a warm embrace. She let it linger on awkwardly, but Harry just snickered, knowing the effect he had on most Hogwarts girls.

Finally Ron nagged Ginny and broke up the uncomfortable moment.

"Well Harry, Gin, I'm gonna go and get us some butterbeer – want one?" Ron inquired looking at both Harry and Ginny.

"Alright then…" Harry replied handing him a couple silver sickles

"Nah, don't worry about it. Mum gave me a bit of money for today after I de-gnomed the garden and caught the two nifflers that got into our house." Ron said simply, declining the wizard money that Harry was holding out to him.

"Oh um…Okay. Thanks." Harry pocketed the sickles.

Okay Ginny! Don't screw this up. Play it cool. Ginny thought nervously to herself.

"So, Harry! How was your summer?" the redhead asked tentatively. "I mean – you know, with the Dursleys and all."

"Uh. What do you think Weasley? I spent the whole summer with the Dursleys and this is the first time I've gotten out of the house! I'm definitely not going back now!" He scowled.

Shit Ginny! Now you really pissed him off! You stupid prat! "Well where are you going to stay then? I'm sure it would be alright if you stayed with us…you know…only if you want to." Ginny said moving a hand closer to Harry's.

"Thanks for the offer Gin, but I've looked into it and I'll be staying here at the Leaky Cauldron." He said automatically pulling away from Ginny's gesture. There was a short awkward silence which followed that reaction. But it was fortunately cut off by Ron who walked up at the perfect moment holding three mugs full of butterbeer.

"Thanks little brother," Ginny smirked.

"Oh shut up Gin, we're only ten months apart." Ron retorted. "So Potter," Ron asked, quickly changing the conversation topic. "How was your summer?"

Harry merely rolled his eyes and nodded his head. "It was fine Ron."

The group continued talking about anything and everything while they slowly drank up all of their butterbeer. Soon after, Ron returned the empty mugs to the bartender behind the counter and gave him a few knuts as a tip. The fifteen year olds (with the exception of Ron who was fourteen) set off for Diagon Alley.

* * *

Hermione and Jo had already organized their day and decided to start their back-to-school shopping at Flourish and Blotts to pick up all of the necessary books.

Along the way, Hermione spotted Draco on the other side of the narrow street. She was about to point him out to Jo, but she had beat her to it.

"Draco, darling!" Jo called, skipping over to meet her fellow Slytherin. She gave him a quick peck on the cheek after greeting him.

"So it _is_ true then Granger. You would kiss any guy that's within ten feet of you," Draco chuckled.

"Only within the age restriction as well," Jo smirked, kissing the blonde on the other cheek making him blush.

"Well then, what about you, 'Mione?" He teased, pointing to his cheek eagerly.

"In your dreams Malfoy," Hermione laughed, amused with Draco's antics. She dragged him into the rather large bookstore while reading the list of books that were required for their following year. Jo went off with Gina Perkin, another Slytherin who was in Jo's year so they could get their books.

Hermione was engrossed in a quite large Arithmancy book when she accidentally bumped into someone walking in the opposite direction.

"Oh Wow!" She exclaimed. "I'm terribly sorry, I should've been paying better attention. Let me get those for you." She said frantically as she began picking up the scattered books.

"Well, well, well. It looks as if all snakes aren't as cold and bitter as they seem." The voice commented. Hermione quickly recognized that voice. It made her cringe as she was getting off her knees.

"Uh…I – well, If I uh…knew it was y-you Potter, I…I wouldn't have been so bloody polite." Hermione finished strongly as she shoved the books roughly into the raven-haired boy's stomach. He hardly even blinked at the impact.

"Hey Potty. How about you and your Gryffindork friends stay out of our way? Hmm?" Draco sneered.

Thank Merlin that Draco's here to cover for me! Hermione thought, gratefully as she wiped her dusty hands on her jeans.

"I'll think about that Malfoy," Harry returned coolly.

All that Draco could do was glare at Harry as he and Ron carried on with their business.

"Draco, just leave the stupid gits alone, they're not worth our precious time and effort." Hermione coaxed, trying to calm him down s quickly and easily as possible.

"Your right. Let's go."

* * *

"Harry that was bloody brilliant! The way you pulled that one off on Granger. She couldn't even say anything half-decent! I-uh-well-you-hmm…me…umm…uh-er" Ron mocked playfully as he started laughing hysterically.

"Yeah…It was pretty great Ron."

Hermione's words repeated themselves clearly in Harry's mind a few times. She seemed like such a nice person. He just couldn't understand how it was even remotely possible that a girl like her could be put in a nasty house like Slytherin.

Oh well, he thought to himself. _Nothing's been making much sense lately anyway._

A nearby shop window had distracted Ron during Harry's brief train of thought. He was apparently transfixed on one of the few items in the window of Quality Quidditch Supplies.

"L-look Harry! It's the newest broom. Shipped right from France! All of the French Quidditch teams have them. I've heard that they're bloody fast! Great for seekers, I imagine!" Ron explained, totally awestruck by the marvellous broom that was behind the window.

"La Turnayed..?" Harry butchered, attempting to pronounce the French words properly.

"Actually boys, it's La Tornade. Pay that fine piece of art some respect would ya?" Seamus Finnegan stated as he approached his fellow Gryffindors in front of the quaint shop.

"Seamus! How are ya mate?" Ron asked, obviously happy to see his good friend after so long. "It sure is a beauty, eh?" He said, returning his gaze to the fine broomstick.

"Ai, it definitely is. Although, I don't think she flies as well as a Firebolt. She's not as smooth, but fast as a speeding bullet!" Seamus informed matter-of-factly.

"Really?" Harry wondered out loud. "Because the Firebolt was – well _is_ brilliant, but it's three years old."

"Well, Harry, there probably won't be another broom like the Firebolt for around another…five years or so. It takes a great deal of time to take that technology and make it better." Said Seamus.

"Oh…I see." Harry returned, obviously intrigued by the information Seamus was giving him. "But Ron, we really should be going now if we are going to get all of our stuff on that list before Christmas! Oh, and Seamus, your welcome to tag along if you wish."

"I would Harry, but me mum's waiting just outside the Apothecary."

"Alright then. See you later mate." Ron piped in as he and Harry left Quality Quidditch Supplies.

* * *

Hermione slowly sunk into her bed, exhausted from the events of the past day. She was relieved to finally feel the comfort of her warm bed. The thoughts of bumping into the Gryffindors raced through and occupied most of her mind.

It's getting awfully difficult to act the Slytherin part lately.

At that exact moment, Jo waltzed happily into the room accidentally knocking over her radio on the way.

"Oopsies." Was all Jo could say.

"Very graceful Josie," her sibling snickered. Jo's hands were full of bags from Diagon Alley but she carelessly plooped them onto the carpeted floor adding to the mess on her side of the room.

"Don't look for a sec now 'Mione."

"I don't think I would _want_ to sis."

"Haha. Very funny." Jo said sarcastically as she changed into her silk pyjamas. Hermione rolled over and looked at her digital clock. 6:58. It read it brigt green lights.

"Hey Jos. It's only seven now. We haven't even had dinner yet…so why…"

"They're really comfy," Jo grinned. "You should try it sometime."

"You know Jo, most of your ideas are pure stupidity or sheer brilliance." Hermione joked.

"That's me," Jo smiled. "I'm gonna go make something to eat. If you come down now I'll make you some 'cause I'll be too lazy later.

"Uh…yeah sure. I'll be down in a minute." The younger brunette assured as she tied her hair up into a perfect bun. _However annoying you can be, you're really awesome Josephine._


	3. Fighting Fire with Fire

**A/N: Just a quick little note here...we understood that there was some confusion and in this chapter we tried to clear it up. For example Cyrano brought up that it was impossible that Hermione be in Slytherin. Of course we understand this, and the sorting was briefly explained in the following chapter. Also, sorry about the name mix up, if Hermione's middle name was Jane. And finally yes, Ron is ten months younger than Ginny (woah! shes crazy), and Hermione and Jo are muggle born. Whew. That was exhausting! Thanks to Cyrano, sweetfiregirl, cheekii monkey, Mr. Moomoo and Gahhh for your reviews and support. Hope you like the chappie!**

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* * *

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**Chapter Three**

**Fighting Fire With Fire**

Hermione ran up and down the corridors of the Hogwarts express searching for her oh-so-punctual Slytherin housemates. She looked around for a few minutes and finally recognized Blaise Zabini, one of her best friends since first year.

* * *

_Flashback_

_It was late. The sorting ceremony had just ended. Hermione was walking with one of her new friends Blaise, down the hall. What had just happened seemed to be the impossible. A muggle born student had just been placed into Slytherin. It had not happened in the entire history of Hogwarts._

_Obviously, as any first year would be, Hermione had put on the sorting hat. It had taken a very long to say anything, but finally sorted her into Slytherin. It was of course a big shock to everyone._

_"Stupid mudblood. Her and her sister both. They're both a disgrace to Salazar Slytherin!" said the shrill, high pitched voices of Pansy Parkinson and her friend Cindy Drapple. They spat at Hermione and walked away ignorantly, obviously upset with the newest member of Slytherin._

_Blaise looked over at Hermione who was nearly bursting into tears. _

_"They called me a mud blood! Did you hear them? My own housemates. Its not my fault if my parents weren't wizards. The fact of the matter is that I'm one" She sobbed, careless of her surroundings. Blaise cautiously approached her._

_"Don't worry. If they cant accept that then they aren't worth your time. Our time. I understand. And I want to be your friend. I don't care who knows. You're a great girl and you can depend on me." He said, nervous of her reaction._

_"Thanks. I would really like that." the brunette smiled. Blaise pulled Hermione back onto her feet and gave her a reassuring hug. There was finally someone who could understand her._

_"Hey listen. I want you to meet my friend Draco. He might be unsure at first but he's smart like you, so I think I can work something out," he said, heading over to the blond boy._

_"She's a what?" Hermione overheard, nearly breaking down again." Fine. I'll give her a chance. But I don't know about this one Zabini."_

_End of Flashback_

* * *

_Well at the beginning things were kind of shaky with Draco _Hermione thought to herself. _But in the end things seemed to work well. His father must have been bloody mad at him!_

She glanced back over at Blaise who seemed unusually bored. He was normally playing jokes on and laughing at the first and second years. But now he was sitting there quietly, all alone. _Must be waiting for me and Draco. _Hermione decided that she wanted to lift the boys spirits with a little prank of her own. She crept up behind him silently and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Hey you!" she whispered seductively into his ear.

"What the he- Oh. Hello there Granger. Fancy meeting you here. What can I do for you?" He asked coolly, there faces hardly inches apart.

"I-uh-erm- sorry Potter." she spluttered, trying to keep whatever (if any) dignity she had left. "Unfortunately, you- your not the guy that I was looking for-my mistake."

She calmly stroked his cheek, staring intensely at his face. Her view was directed to his beautiful emerald eyes. They were the same as they had always been; mysterious, yet intriguing. His skin was amazingly soft, and sent shivers up her spine as she made contact. _Wow! I don't think I've ever been this close to kissing a guy before! I mean, not that I would want to kiss Gryffindork Potter! Agh! Bad thoughts. Eww, how could I even go there? And of course there's no way in hell that I would let Potter steal my first kiss… _After Hermione had restrained herself he responded to her smooth display.

"Oh, well that's too bad then. I wouldn't want to be the guy you were looking for anyway. Give him my concerns," Harry smirked. The young witch was completely thrown off by his response. She was starting to squirm fearfully.

"Tell me now Granger. Am I making you uncomfortable? Angry?"

Hermione was furious by his comment. He had her at a loss for words. _Dammit! Just like Diagon Alley! _She motioned to slap him across the face, but his hand caught her arm in mid-swing.

"I would not go there Granger." He commanded fiercely. Hermione turned around and stomped out of the compartment in rage.

_Ugh! The nerve of that stupid git. Merlin's beard! And now of course he has me right where he bloody wants me; embarrassed about another stupid mistake. Surely he's going to go and tell all his stupid friends. ARG! How could I be so weak! I have to stop letting him get to me like he always does. I need to force myself to move on and be stronger. I am a Slytherin anyway._

"There you are Granger! Blaise and I have been looking everywhere for you for the last ten minutes? Where've you been?" Draco inquired.

"Oh hi! I was just you know, in the ladies room. Freshening up. Yes. That's what I've been doing all right."

"Pfft. No wonder it took so long to find you. What do you girls do in there anyway?" He laughed. "But hold on a second. My, my, my! Granger! You look like you've just shacked up with someone! You're a mess. You could've at least fixed your hair or something!"

"Draco, you prat!" she retorted half-jokingly.

"You know me far too well Mione. C'mon now, lets go back to the compartment. I'm sure Blaise is throwing dungbombs at the tiny first years. I definitely don't want to miss out on this."

Hermione had used to think that throwing things that explode at innocent little kids seemed cruel. However, eventually it had grown on her. She realized that it was kind of like a cycle. When these kids were in sixth year, it would be there duty to play jokes on the younger years. Being with Blaise and Draco for so long had a huge impact on her personality.

"AAAAAHH! Mommy!" screamed a little first year, running as fast as he could.

"Zabini." The two said simultaneously.

"Damn. I thought for sure that one was gonna cry. He's been leading us on for the past twenty minutes now, little twerp."

"Have you made any cry so far?"

"Sadly no. Hopefully soon! I can feel it!"

"Aww, that's too bad."

Draco dragged Hermione to the place where he and Blaise had chosen as their territory. Blaise was sitting there, fixing up some more dungbombs, as expected. The witch sat with these two every year. Except for the first of course. _I think I might have sat with Potter and Weasley. What was I thinking?_

"So Zabini. I heard you were looking all over for me? I'm sorry, but I just don't feel the same." Hermione joked.

"Granger! I'm impressed. That sounded like a line right from Malfoy's mouth! I am very pleased with your progress." Blaise stated. He quickly stood up and greeted Hermione with a short hug.

"I missed you mate." She whispered, making sure that Draco could not hear.

"Me too."

* * *

The train had been moving for quite some time now, and it was becoming dark. Hermione had decided to step outside for some water from one of the trolley's. The corridor was nearly empty, including two Gryffindor third years giggling unnecessarily, and _Harry Potter??? What is he doing out here by himself?_ She noticed that the wizard seemed to be focusing on something in the middle of the hallway. _Odd._ Also his wand was out. It appeared to be pointing straight at Hermione. The boy was continuously muttering nonsense under his breath, not losing his concentration once.

Hermione began to feel uneasy as she stepped backwards very slowly. As she did so, she noticed a small piece of crumpled up parchment, fluttering steadily towards her. When it came close enough she snatched it and unfolded it. She looked back to Harry, whose expression was currently consumed with satisfaction.

_Meet me at the back of the train in two minutes._

That was all the note read. It immediately shredded up after she saw it. Once again she looked in Harry's direction in confusion, but he had already disappeared from the area.

"Hey guys," Hermione said, poking her head back into the compartment where she was once resting. "I'm just going to the washroom. I'll be back in a short while."

"Again?" Draco complained.

"I didn't need to know that Granger." Blaise snorted. Hermione plainly rolled her eyes and cautiously made her way to the back of the Hogwarts Express.

_Wait a minute 'Mione – What are you doing? Judging on the past encounters that you have had with Potter you don't wanna be getting into this scenario. Alone with Potter again? This is ridiculous! He's your bloody rival! Your enemy!…Oh forget it._ She thought as she continued walked down the hallway a little unsurely. _Here I go again, another disaster in the making._

The Slytherin nervously approached the back exit and mustered up all of her courage to open the door.

"So you decided to join me Granger?" Came a familiar voice from beside her. It caused Hermione to jump back in surprise. "Calm down woman, it's me, Potter."

"I knew that Potter. I'm not stupid, I just didn't see you there. It's really dark out here."

"That's because we're surrounded by mountains at the moment. Just hold on for a couple minutes." He said waiting patiently as the train curved around a mountain. It revealed a full moon and thousands of bright stars.

The view captivated Hermione but she spoke nothing of it, not wanting to seem soft. Harry too looked in amazement but also said no words. They were both mesmerized by the sky for a short while until Hermione broke the silence.

"So what is it you want with me Potter? Do you just want to piss me off even more?" She questioned bitterly.

"No. Don't be silly Granger. I'm not like you and your Slytherin friends. I just wanted to let you know that our meeting back there can be our little secret." He said truthfully.

"How do you expect me to believe you, Potter?" Hermione inquired narrowing her brown eyes.

"I don't."

"Fine then. Thanks Potter."

"I'm really not as bad as you tend to portray me, Granger"

"I guess not. But for your silence…" Hermione cut herself off. She caught Harry totally off guard by pulling into a warm embrace. Even the ladies man himself was trying to conceal his blushing. He quickly recovered and pushed Hermione away. She simply walked out confidently, excited to have shown Harry up.

"What the bloody hell was that for?" He said catching up to her quickly.

"I owed it to you." The brunette smiled as she continued sauntering down the hall.

"Don't be playing your stupid mind games with me now Granger." He yelled angrily. His expression was very tense. It frightened Hermione slightly. She suddenly felt as though hugging him was a humongous mistake

"I'll d-do w-hat-tever it is th-at I want-t to do P-Potter." The witch stammered extremely nervously.

_You stupid bitch!_ Harry thought full of rage. _Who the hell do you think you are? You have no right to be speaking to me like that! Wait. I just can't let her get to me like this. I wont let a Slytherin get to me._

"Fine then Granger. But remember. Everything that you do has a consequence. You're a smart girl. You should know that." He scolded as he stomped off, his robes swaying heavily behind him.

_Blimey! That's one way to make an exit! _Hermione thought relieved that she did not have to talk to the emerald-eyed boy for any longer. _He goes through more mood swings than any of the girls I know! Including Pavarti Patil! One minute he's all 'look at the stars, were between the mountains' blah blah blah. Then right after he's bolting after me and scolding me for hugging him? What the hell am I suppose to do? I don't think I will ever understand that boy!_

* * *

"Oi Potter! What's wrong mate?! You look like somebody just stole your Firebolt, then snapped it in half right in front of your eyes!" said a very puzzled Seamus Finnegan.

"I hate to admit it Harry, but Seamus is right! Were Malfoy and his stupid gang setting you off again? Because I think it's about time that I go in there and give him a solid poundi-"

"No Ron, it was nothing like that." Harry murmured slowly cooling off. "It was just some stupid Ravenclaw girls. Couldn't get their hands off me."

"That's terrible Harry. Were not even at the school yet and their already all over you. You really have it tough mate, all this attention! Very depressing." Ron implied sarcastically shaking his head at Seamus.

_Its not always as great as it seems dammit! Stupid Granger. First she comes onto me while I'm minding my own business, waiting for my pals to show up. Next she gets all pissed off and such. Then she goes and pulls a ridiculous stunt like that hug? What the hell is wrong with that girl? She can't make up her bloody mind! I will never understand her…_

* * *

**A/N: Hello again. Hmm what an interesting chapter. I guess great minds think alike. Mr. Potter seems a little dazed and confused, as well as Ms. Granger. It will be interesting to see what happens next. Once again, please read and review. All constructive criticism and support is greatfully appreciated. Later.**


	4. Her First Prank

**Chapter Four**

**Her First Prank**

"Kaleb, honey. Could you do me a favour and hold onto these for a minute?" Jo pleaded her newest boyfriend sweetly. His name was Kaleb Goffry, chaser from the Slytherin Quidditch team. Jo had played alongside him since she joined the team as a beater in second year. "It helps get rid of stress, whacking those bludgers." She used to say. Just to add to her beauty and intelligence, Jo was a marvellous athlete with a great body. She was definitely a triple threat. Most of the female students at Hogwarts either despised her, or tried to be her best friend. Now Kaleb, on the other hand, he used to be a disgusting creature. His teeth were chipped and in definite need of braces, his hair was constantly greasy and tended to smell like horseshit. But recently however, due to the fact that his father was ironically a wizard dentist, his teeth were whitened, repaired, and straightened. Also, he learned the positives of taking a shower more then once every two months, and the brilliance of cologne. He actually looked half-decent. Yet all of this was not enough to impress the younger sister – a very tough critique. Hermione was completely disappointed in Jo.

_Blimey! We've barely been inside the castle for 5 minutes and she already has a new boyfriend!!! Wonder how long this one will last before she blows him off. I can't wait for a guy to dump her. It's like they're all too scared of her!_

Hermione fought herself to restrain her thoughts as she entered the Great Hall for the umpteenth time. There sat the four long tables separating the houses from each other. The brunette uncomfortably walked over to Slytherins table which was right under large green and silver hangings with the Slytherin serpent on them. She wished that she could sit somewhere else.

_No. Now I am going to change. Right now. I want to sit at this table because I am a proud Slytherin. It doesn't matter if I don't like it because this is who I am. I can and will accept it. From now on, I want to be 'Hermione, Confident Slytherin'. _She decided as she began to now strut over to her housemates.

"Hey boys!" She greeted some of her fellow students with enthusiasm. "It's good to be back."

"Welcome students and professors back to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!" Hermione heard the familiar voice boom into the Great Hall. "I was going to start off by introducing your new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, but unfortunately, she had some unfinished business to deal with and will hopefully be arriving in time for your first classes. Now let us begin the Sorting Ceremony!" And with that, he flicked his wand over the empty space in the room and there stood a stool with the legendary hat sitting upon it.

The sorting hat had finished its new song and was now dividing the students into different houses. Although, as Hermione paid attention to the song, she noticed that Slytherin's bit had been changed. It no longer included the bit about being pureblooded. The brunette seemed to be the only one who was paying attention, so she left it alone.

"RAVENCLAW" the battered hat yelled as a timid boy hardly even placed the hat on his head. He nearly fell off the stool when the hat yelled so loudly. He immediately dropped the hat and ran over to the Ravenclaw table.

"What a wimp." Draco chuckled to Hermione.

"Yeah. I remember when you got sorted you walked over to the Slytherin table like you were the coolest guy in town."

"Are you telling me that I'm not cool? And besides, I'm more like the coolest guy in the universe, doll."

"Your so full of it Malfoy," Hermione laughed.

* * *

The Slytherin common room was full of light, as Draco, Blaise and Hermione re-entered. At the entrance there was a huge sign welcoming the new first years. They did this every year. After the great feast there was a big party to show how the Slytherins liked to live. _I can tell. Some of these kids are gonna be troublemakers._ Hermione thought. _Especially that one with the curly brown hair. He already reminds me of Blaise! Oh, and there's another Millicent Bulstrode in the making. Yikes._

"Hey Mione. Wanna do me a favour?" Blaise asked. "Go down to the kitchens first and ask for some more punch."

"Is that all?" Hermione questioned suspiciously.

"Arg! You caught me! I also want you to sneak down into Snape's Office and get some itching powder. These guys are all going to go mad when they drink it! It'll be like a bloody zoo! Which reminds me, I need to go get my camera. This'll be great!

"I don't know if I'm comfortable sneaking into Snape's Office. What if I get caught? It could be danger- Ah forget it. Should I throw in some extra hyperactive juice while I'm at it?"

"Whoa. This is new. I had no idea that you'd even consider it. Yeah, hyper juice! They'll go insane!"

Hermione slunk out of the room, trying not to allow anyone to notice her. The hallways were very dark, as it was late at night.

"_Lumos,"_ She whispered as she took out her wand. _I think this is the most outgoing, rule-defying thing that I've ever done in my entire life. And I like it. I feel spontaneous! _She thought as she snuck silently down the corridor. Her heart raced with every new step she took. Down, and down the stairs she went as she headed towards the kitchen, finally making it there about five minutes later. She tickled the pear on the painting to get to the kitchen, and was shortly greeted by Dobby.

"Hello friend of previous master!" He said, excited to see her.

"Oh hello Dobby. How have you been lately? Is the headmaster treating you well?"

"Yes, very, very good is master to Dobby. Dobby is having lots of fun at Hogwarts. He is liking to talk to the other house elves. They is very friendly to Dobby and he makes many friends."

"Well that's great! But I really came here to ask you a favour."

"Yes! Anything for friend of previous master."

"Could I get some fruit punch? Were having a party in the Slytherins­-" Before Hermione could even finish her sentence there was a large bowl of red-coloured juice floating in front of her.

"Is this good for friend of previous master?" He asked happily.

"Its great Dobby. Thanks so much… I really must get going now. Some of the fourth years are getting thirsty. I wouldn't want to keep them waiting," She lied.

"Okay. Byebye."

Hermione directed the bowl of punch in front of her and kept it floating as she left the kitchens. She silently crept down the narrow passageways throughout the school. _This is easy!_ Hermione thought to herself as she rounded yet another corner. _Dammit! Spoke to soon Granger! _She was staring straight into the green eyes of Mrs. Norris. _Filch must be around here somewhere too. I better hurry up. _She continued staring at the cat until it spun around and scurried away, its sharp claws scratching against the stone floor.

Slowly but surely she reached Snape's tiny office and put her ear to the door to check if anyone was inside. _Brilliant. It's all clear Granger._ Hermione looked around once more before slowly opening the door. Suddenly it let out a light creaking noise. _Oh shit. _She stopped immediately, holding her breath. _This could be a problem. _ When no one showed up, she carried on, through the doorway.

The small room was surprisingly very organized. All of the potions seemed to be colour coordinated. She reached for the cabinet nearest to her and opened the doors. _ Nope._ She said to herself._ Itching Powder is greenish blue_. Hermione remembered last year's studies in potions. She closed the cabinet and moved to the next. It was full of jars with different gels in them. The next had liquids. _Yes! _She noticed it on the third row. It was bright orange with lots of foamy bubbles at the top. _One down, one to go. _She grabbed an empty vial out of a drawer below the cabinet and poured a small amount into it.

After looking through two more cabinets she had successfully found and 'borrowed' some Itching Powder. She began to close drawers and cabinets that she opened and rearranged the empty vials so that it looked like the same amount were there. She replaced the itching powder and extra hyperactive juice _exactly_ where they had come from – not even an inch away from where they were originally.

She left the room levitating the potions with a sense of satisfaction. _That felt really good,_ She thought to herself with an evil grin on her face.

Hermione had stopped paying attention to what she was doing when out of nowhere two voices started a conversation. She was frozen solid in her footsteps. She could do nothing except listen to the two deep voices, not so far ahead.

"Have you done the last check for students lurking?" one asked.

"No, I was just about to. I think right after I will lock up everything."

"Fine. Wait to lock my office, though. I need to make sure that I locked all of the cabinets. You never know when some of those crazy hooligans will try and pull a fast one on me."

_Snape and Filch! _Hermione bit her tongue so hard at the comment, she nearly screamed in pain. The witch could only hope that she had left everything exactly how she found it. If anything was in a different spot she could be doomed. Who know what could happen if the missing ingredients were recognized.

As soon as the two finished there meeting, the brunette wasted no time and was off to the common room.

"I see that you've made it back in one piece then Granger. Bravo!" Blaise said.

"You would not believe how close I got! On my way back I nearly ran into Snape… and Filch!" she exclaimed. "And Snape was going to go check his office to make sure all his potions and ingredients were still there! I may as well commit suicide now!"

"Uh Mione, you're the last person that anybody would expect to do anything like this, so your pretty well off the hook." The brown-eyed boy assured. "Hand over the goods. I got my camera ready and everything. Your brilliant Granger."

The first to taste the contaminated concoction was a third year, Graham Pritchard. He was content for the first few minutes. Then he began to scratch his neck. His knee. His foot. His ear. His elbow. And so on. Soon enough he also started to giggle like a maniac. Hermione and Blaise sat together laughing in hysterics at their achievement.

"Not to shabby for your first prank," Blaise smirked.

"I think I've had some pretty good teachers," She replied casually.

* * *

The class was filled with talking and murmuring among students, Gryffindors on one side and Slytherins on the other. Most of the conversation was generally revolving around the new teacher.

"I personally think it should be Gilderoy Lockheart again. He sure knew his stuff." Said Parvati Patil dreamily. Harry rolled his eyes at the stupid comment from the ditzy girl. He had no idea who Dumbledore could have found at the last moment. It was a mystery to everyone.

"Hello students once again" said the voice of Albus Dumbledore, a big smile across his face. "I am here today at this unusual hour to welcome to you the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. She has only arrived today, so she may seem a bit flustered, but I assure you, she is a perfectly qualified member of our faculty."

A young woman, about twenty-seven or so stumbled into the room. She had long wavy hair, golden brown in colour, with subtle blond highlights. She seemed very clumsy and unaware of her surroundings. As she entered the class she knocked over an empty jar, shattering it loudly.

"Oh my! Look what I've done now! I'm incredibly sorry Dumbledore. I just kinda bumped into it, and I didn't see it and-"

"Its quite alright. We can fix that easily." The old wizard stated as he flicked his wand, simply repairing the jar to its original state.

_Who is this woman?_ Harry thought to himself. _She seems really clumsy! I wonder why Dumbledore would hire someone like her. At least she could maybe walk in a straight line!_ Harry turned around to look at the rest of the class. Most of the girls looked either jealous, or excited to finally have a nice young lady on staff. The guys were all drooling and staring, as if she was a veela. The wizard looked back to the new teacher. She was beautiful, but did not draw his view like a veela normally would. There was something strangely familiar about this girl, but Harry could not seem to put his finger on it.

"Once again everyone, I would like to introduce to you your newest professor…"

* * *

**A/N: Well here's the fourth chapter...Hermione's decided to come out of her shell a bit and I left it as a cliffhanger just for all you suspenseful readers. We tried to make Hermione stand out a bit more as a Slytherin**

**And thanks to all previous reviewers, we tried to take comments and suggestions as much as possible**

**R&R :D**


	5. A Certain Chemistry

**Disclaimer: I, Crazyknarf, unfortunately do not own any of the characters in this book. The characters that are mine are Jo Granger and others that werent mentioned in the Harry Potter Series. Thanks Yall!**

**PS- Thanks to all my reviewers, you helped a lot**

****

**Chapter Five**

**A Certain Chemistry**

"I would like to introduce you to Professor Tonks." Dumbledore announced, smiling at the class. "Now I must be off, there are some flying toads that I must deal with." Harry's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Okie dokie! Now that he's gone let's get rolling. Oh and by the way, just call me Tonks, professor makes me feel old." Tonks said. "I guess I'll take attendance first?" Hermione nodded in agreement.

Harry's mind was immediately flooded with memories from Number Twelve Grimmauld Place and the Order. _No wonder I didn't recognize her. _Harry's thoughts were interrupted.

"Harry? Harry Potter?" Tonks voice called out as if she didn't know him.

"I'm right here." Harry said only half paying attention. He was still is disbelief of the entire situation.

"So basically this class will be a brief overview of learning the defence. Also, I will be assigning you with a partner for the rest of the year. You'll be completing assignments together as well as practicing spells." She explained, her hair changing from golden brown to a turquoise hue.

Half of the class gasped in response while the others just stared at her change in appearance. Tonks herself paid no attention to this.

"If you haven't already noticed, I'm a Metamorphmagus." She commented, changing her eye colour from brown to green. "Does anybody know what that means?"

Harry and Hermione automatically raised their hands.

"Hermione was it?" She asked pointing to the student.

"Yes. A Metamorphmagus is a witch or wizard that can change their shape or appearance whenever they want to. They're like a shape shifter." Hermione said wisely.

"Couldn't have said it better myself Hermione, ten points to…?"

"Slytherin." Hermione grinned.

"Right then. So if you guys see any part of me change, it's just me having a bit of fun. Now Dark arts… hmm…" She said, obviously thinking of what to say next. "It's a difficult thing to master. I have always struggled with it. But once you get the hang of it its not so bad."

Harry was ecstatic about his new teacher. He couldn't have been happier with anyone else. Tonks had always been someone that he could talk to and trust. She was also the life of the party- loads of fun. No more long lectures about silly books or extremely difficult assignments. Just learning and practicing defence.

The rest of the class had flown by for everyone, listening to Tonks' stories and explanations. She was also throwing in pointless jokes, just to get a few laughs out of everyone. Eventually the time came to picking partners. Harry felt confident that if he was not paired with Ron, he would be paired with another of his buddies from Gryffindor.

"Okay. The first group that I have decided on are Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini. Ron Weasley and Seamus Finnegan. Dean Thomas and Lavender Brown. Parvati Patil and Ginny Weasley. Millicent Bulstrode and Pansy Parkinson." She said, ignoring the grins or grunts that were made with each pairing.

Shoot! I'm running out of Gryffindors! What is she doing? Who is she going to put me with?! It better not be-

"And finally, Harry Potter and… Hermione Granger." She concluded. Harry's insides were going ballistic. "These are your pairs for the rest of the year. No switching, yada yada yada. However, you can sit wherever you like, just try not to disrupt me."

At last she dismissed the class, most of which decided to go get lunch. Harry stayed behind.

"Harry! What's up? How've you been? Sorry we didn't send over anything with the order. They've been really busy with some mission." She said, tightly hugging Harry.

"Uh, I'm okay. I didn't even recognize you at first when you came in until Dumbledore introduced you." He admitted shamefully.

"No worries Potter. I get that a lot." She confessed. "Is there anything else that you wanted to talk about? Aren't you hungry? Cause I'm starving. I gotta go get some grub."

"Actually, yes. I wanted to talk to you about our partners."

"I'm sorry Harry, but just because I like you doesn't mean I'm going to switch anything for you or give you special treatment."

"Of course not. That would be unfair of you to pick favourites," he began sourly. "I was just wondering what made you pick the partners. I mean, I'm the only Gryffindor with a Slytherin, and I really hate Granger. I just don't understand how you could have matched us together. Were really in separate worlds."

"Good question Harry. I was sure that you were going to ask that. You see, sometimes, you just tend to see a, you know, certain thing..."

"No, unfortunately I don't quite understand what you're trying to say here," he said confused.

"Merlin, how do I explain this… Well I just saw chemistry between the two of you. Yes that's the word! Chemistry! Anyway, I don't know what it was, but I had a feeling that you two would work extremely well together."

"Why on earth would you think that?" he said raising his voice.

"Simmer down Harry, I'm not finished explaining yet. I just think that you guys could go far together. Combine her smarts with your power, and you've got yourself a damn good team there."

"But I can't stand her. I-"

"C'mon now boy! Would I ever do something that I wasn't absolutely sure of?"

"Well uh…"

"No. Forget that," The now pink-haired girl laughed. "All I'm trying to say here is that I wouldn't do anything really stupid. Especially to you. Try waiting a couple months. Humour me! See how everything turns out. I'm really not asking you to do so much."

"Fine _Nymphadora._" The wizard said, chuckling at her appalled expression. "I'll deal with it. You're going to owe me big time for this one!"

"We'll see about that. It might just be the other way around…" she muttered as he walked out of sight. The Metamorphmagus simply ran her hand through her bubblegum pink hair. She heard the call of her rumbling stomach and left to get some lunch.

* * *

_Me?! And Potter! What a mess. This is not going to work at all. He's not going to agree with my ideas, I'm going to hate his idea, and it'll probably be just in spite of each other! I think that I'm going to have to confront him about this. I don't want my year to be completely ruined by a silly thing like a partner. But will he even listen to me? Especially after what happened the last time I tried to talk to him. _Hermione thought, nervous about trying to smooth things over with her enemy. _I can see two different scenarios here. Either everything goes perfectly, we work things out and I have a great sixth year. Or, the not-so-good possibility. He gets terribly angry with me for some profound reason, and we end up bickering the rest of the year. _Hermione entered the Great Hall and decided she would talk to Harry later.

She joined Blaise and Draco, who were ferociously chomping down on there meals. As soon as they caught sight of her they laughed and pointed at her.

"Lucky you Granger! You got paired with Potter! Can we trade?" he said immaturely, giggling like a little girl.

"Can it Malfoy. Its not like I bloody chose to be with the stupid git!"

"I know that silly, but I still think it's incredibly entertaining."

Hermione angrily rubbed her forehead and glared over at Potter, who failed to realize she was looking at him. He seemed to be in the exact same situation as her right now. His friends were laughing at him while he tried to explain something. The events that occurred in the last class insanely frustrated him. At last he too looked up at Hermione, shooting back the same cold glare she gave him. The witch sat down shortly, attempting to put her upset thoughts past her.

"I can't believe that woman. She is so unfair to do this to me. At first I thought that she was going to be a really fun teacher, but after pulling a stunt like that I'm not so sure."

"Ah, forget about it Granger. We probably hardly have to spend anytime with our partners anyway. Only a couple of classes here and there," Blaise said, concealing his grin.

"Sure, a couple classes of bloody torture! Its completely unreasonable. We are the only Gryffindor/Slytherin coup- I mean, pair out of everyone!" she said, hopeful that no one caught her slip-up.

"Couple? Is that what you were trying to say? Mione! Don't be stupid. He's a Gryffindork. They aren't good enough for us. Strictly off limits. Same goes for Hufflepuffs. They're all softies. Every bloody one of em," Draco said, shuddering at his own words.

"NO! HARRY AND I ARE NOT A BLOODY COUPLE!" Hermione yelled loudly. _Oh no! What the hell did you say that for! He didn't even say that you were a couple! Stupid, stupid, stupid _She thought shaking her head in remorse.

With that display of anger everyone in the great hall turned and stared at her. Her cheeks flushed a dark shade of magenta. Draco plainly began to laugh at her again. She rushed out of the hall, tears streaming down her face in embarrassment.

For some odd reason, Harry almost felt that it was his responsibility to go and find her. None of her friends cared. They were all still laughing at her.

"I've got to go look up something in the library." Harry said excusing himself from the table.

"On the first day of classes? We don't have any assignments yet mate!" Ron said, a puzzled look consuming his face.

"I know. It's really important though."

He chased Hermione down the bright corridor and found himself outside the castle. In the distance he could see Hermione, walking further and further. The teenager saw a broom leaning against a nearby shed. He grabbed it carelessly and flew after the brown-eyed girl. _I cannot believe that I'm doing this! _ He thought in awe of his own actions.

He quickly caught up to the crying brunette and flew in right beside her.

"Get lost Potter." She spluttered.

"No. _I can do whatever I want_," He mocked. Hermione tried to calm herself.

"Well what do you want then?"

"I want to know what happened back there. And why in hell were you yelling about us being a couple. Your bloody mad you know. I think there's a better chance of both of us being struck by lightning at the exact same time."

"Wow Potter! For once I agree with you. Well, not about the bloody mad part, but the lightening bit."

"It was Malfoy wasn't it?" He guessed confidently.

"How'd you know?"

"Lets says it was just a wild guess," He smirked.

"Whatever," Hermione grumbled. "He was being a jerk about this whole partner thing. Accusing me of being _together_ with you and such. Which reminds me! I wanted to talk to you about it myself."

"I already told you about the couple thing! Its bloody impossible!"

"NO! NOT THAT! THE PARTNER THING!"

"All right then. Go ahead. I'm all ears," he said. Hermione winced at the comment. Jo used that saying all the time.

"I wanted to try and patch things up with you, because I really don't want to be dreading defence the whole year. Personally I find it truly fascinating."

"Are you saying that you don't want me to bring your grade down or something?"

"No… I just don't want to have these childish fights all year."

"I think that I can handle that. As long as you are willing to stop being such a bitch all the time."

"O-okay," she stammered nearly blowing up in rage. Immediately Harry regretted his words.

"Good then. It's all settled. Partners?" He said reaching out a hand patiently awaiting her response.

"Partners." She grinned shaking his hand firmly.

"One more question."

"Shoot."

"Why did you come outside? And where are you heading to anyway? The only thing that's in this direction is the lake, and unless you're wearing your swimsuit under those robes…unlikely… I don't see the purpose of going there." Said the wizard, still floating on his broom.

"I don't know where I'm going Potter. I needed to get away from people, so I started moving. And now I'm here. With you."

"I see. Sometimes I feel like that too." He said again wanting to take back his words. _Dammit. Don't let her think that you're a softie now! You're not a bloody Hufflepuff, for Merlin's sake!_ "I better go. You probably wouldn't want to be seen with me. Unless of course, you want a ride back. Or maybe even a race back. There's a broom right over there. We've gotten pretty far."

"I'll have to take a rain check on that one Potter. Save the race for next time."

"Suit yourself then Granger." He said, zooming off towards the castle.

* * *

**A/N: Alrighty.... another chapter. I cant remember... was Tonks a squib in book 5? Well if she was i changed it. This is my fic so i can have it how i like. I thought it was okay. Tell me if maybe the characters seemed really different or something. Ya. So Please read and review! :D Thanks**


	6. Partners?

**Chapter Six**

**Partners?**

"Hermione! Wait! Please! I didn't mean it mate. Please don't be upset" Draco yelled chasing Hermione downstairs to the Slytherin dormitories. "Could you just listen to me? I would never hurt you on purpose. I swear, I didn't mean anything."

"Leave me alone Malfoy," Hermione scolded, obviously still upset from the incident in the great hall.

"What can I do, Mione? What can I do to prove that I am terribly sorry? I'll do anything! Anything!" He begged desperately. His eyes were filled with emotion. Regret in particular. The young witch paused. She turned to see how upset and apologetic he looked.

"Please,"

She considered her options for a couple seconds.

"Draco, if you really cared you would just leave."

The blond looked crushed. _I'm an idiot. How could I have been so stupid to go and make fun of her like that? I shouldn't even joke around. I'll be lucky if she even comes around to forgive me this year!_

"If that's what you want then… I guess I'll be leaving now. I'm sorry." He said sadly as he re-traced his steps, going back the way he came. Hermione felt bad about being so cold, but she did not have the patience to deal with anyone at the moment. _I know. I'll go talk to Jo. _She thought while entering the common room.

She opened the door to the seventh year girl's dormitories.

"Bloody hell Jo! What's going on here? Guys aren't even allowed in here!" Hermione said, shocked to see her sister spending a little _intimate _time with her boyfriend Kaleb. In other words they were having a full-blown make out session on Jo's bed.

"W-what are you doing here, sis?" she asked, pushing Kaleb off her immediately.

"I wanted to talk to you alone, but I see I've interrupted something, so forget it." She returned bitterly.

"No, no, now's a perfect time to chat. Kaleb sweetie, you need to get going now." She said almost getting carried away again with a good-bye kiss.

"First off all, you make me sick." Hermione laughed.

"Your welcome! But really, what did you want to talk about? Don't tell me you stopped me for nothing!"

"Oh, I wouldn't want to do that _Princess Josephine_. I kind of wanted your help with something. I don't know if you heard about my production of stupidity during lunch,"

"I was there. It did seem pretty embarrassing."

"Uh YEAH! Draco was making fun of me, the next thing I know I'm screaming at the top of my lungs, and then I was talking… I was talking to Potter! And we sort of became friends in a weird conversation, and now Draco is trying to apologize and I just want to scream!" blurted Hermione, her cheeks still stained from the tears.

"Hey. Calm down. People will get over it. It's no big deal, except for the being friend's with Potter part. I don't get that. Explain. I'm all ears." Jo said eagerly. _Whoa. There's that phrase again! 'I'm all ears'. Weird. _Hermione shortly put her thoughts past her and quickly explained the scene.

"Okay. Well first off all, for some insane reason we got paired up together in Defence class. By the way have you met the new teacher? She's okay. But back to the story…"

The younger sibling continued telling the story for about ten minutes. Jo responded with a couple "Mmhmm"s "weird"s and "hmm"s.

"And then he asked me to race him back to the castle. I didn't feel like flying so I told him that I would walk back. He almost seemed nice. I couldn't believe how oddly he was acting.

"Wow. He is a Gryffindor. What'd you expect?"

"I don't know," Hermione admitted. "He's always been like an enemy to me. He's been such a bastard lately too."

"That's because we, my friend, are in Slytherin. And Gryffindorks don't like us. It's as simple as that."

"Whatever. I better be going. We really should be getting to class. Thanks for letting me vent out my frustration."

"No problem. I'll be here for you all the time, to listen or give advice,"

"I probably wouldn't take your advice, especially on guys," Hermione smirked. "But thanks for listening."

_Thanks for listening. _Feeling a lot better the brunette moved towards her next class, Herbology.

The rest of the day was a walk in the park. Herbology was simple, all they did was listen to Professor Sprout explain the plants that they would work with throughout the year. Potions with Snape followed. It wasn't exactly Hermione's favourite class, but Snape always asked her questions to gain house points.

* * *

Harry had not stopped thinking about his conversation with Hermione since it occurred. He still regretted calling her a bitch. It looked like it hurt her feelings quite badly. _Remember, your still not 'friends' with Granger, you're simply her partner in one, single, measly class. _

At the moment he was sitting in the common room, relaxing. Ginny was sitting in the armchair across from him. Harry removed his robes, revealing his maroon v-neck sweater. He delicately placed them on the back of the chair and laid back in comfort.

"So Harry, what were you looking for in the library?" Ginny asked.

"Oh nothing, just a quidditch book," he quickly recovered.

"Sounds cool! Which one? Maybe I should have a look!" the redhead said hopefully. Ginny always acted as though she was extremely excited about quidditch. She played as a beater, like Fred and George used to be. She wasn't as good as Ron had become, but she served her purpose.

"I uh, forgot the name," he lied.

"That's too bad."

"I think I'm gonna hit the sac now Gin. I'll see you in the morning."

"Goodnight Harry."

Harry failed to respond as he nearly crawled up the stairs to the boy's dormitory. It seemed really early still, but he was too tired to socialize.

The week passed by quickly for Harry. So far, he had no partner action in Tonks' class. Everything was going smoothly as well. He hardly had any homework. It was now Monday again, and the students had filled the dungeons for potions class. It was also a double with Slytherin. Harry had taken one of the seats near the back of the room.

Snape was in an unusually good mood.

"Today, we are going to learn the ingredients and effects of a few simple potions. One being a…"

Snape's voice drifted off as Harry looked around the dark room. Beside him sat Ron, who was hardly paying attention. In front of him was Millicent Bulstrode. She was sitting alone. No one would want to sit next to her, even if it was the only option! At the very front desk sat Blaise Zabini and Draco Malfoy…_ But that's where Hermione usually sits He_ thought. He looked around again, trying to find her, but she was nowhere to be seen.

_I spoke too soon _the wizard thought as Hermione came stumbling into the class, looking quite flustered.

"Er- sorry I'm late, Professor,"

"It's fine. Lets not make this a habit Miss Granger," Snape replied, not wanting to deduct points from his own house. Hermione glanced around, looking for a spot. _Well its either Millicent Bulstrode, or Pansy Parkinson. I'd take Parkinson any day!_ She quickly sat down beside Pansy. Now she was on the other side of Harry. The brunette hastily tried to sort out her books, which ended up on the floor. Snape didn't seem to care. She reached down to grab them, when she suddenly felt a warm tingly feeling shoot up her arm. Hermione saw the hand on hers. She looked up and saw Harry, looking at her, his eyes intense as ever.

"I don't need your help, Potter," She nagged coldly, shooting daggers with her eyes.

"Sorry Granger, I was trying to do you a bloody favour," He hissed back. He sat back up and tried to forget she was even there. It seemed impossible. She was always in the back of her mind, rolling around in there somewhere. The wizard hated it. He felt as though he couldn't control himself.

Harry ignored her for the next few weeks, until double potions came around about three weeks later. They sat on desk apart again, strangely on their own free will. _Oh Merlin, what am I doing! I shouldn't sit here! _ Hermione tried to change seats inconspicuously, but Snape began a new lecture. _Shit._ They had recently had Defence with Tonks. It was brutal. They were working in partners, trying to put simple hexes on one another. Harry was extremely powerful, and got her every time. She became jealous and responded with angry remarks and comments, each one she regretted.

"What was that all about last class, Granger. Why do you have to be like that? It's like you're constantly trying to be better than me. What is your deal?" Harry said, reading her like an open book. He was leaning over slightly, hoping not to catch Snape's attention.

"It's nothing Potter, now stop bloody talking to me. I'm trying to pay attention. You know, it actually takes work to have the best grades in the year-"

"Yeah whatever Granger. How about quidditch? Try that once in a while. Or I know! How about having nearly been killed by Voldemort and then being chased by the stupid git for your entire life so far. See how simple that is."

Hermione winced at his words. A very angry and annoyed Professor Snape soon stopped their bickering.

"Potter. Granger. I've had enough of you two. You're constantly disrupting my class. Twenty points from Slytherin and Gryffindor. You can continue on with your little conversation in at the end of the week in detention. As I was saying,"

Both Harry and Hermione cursed Snape under their breath and sat back in their seats. This was brilliant.

_It's going to be a long week._

* * *

"Harry! We are going to have a quidditch tryout on Friday, Right after classes until four-thirty or five. You're going to be there right?" asked Ron hopefully.

"For sure… Wait… no I can't Ron. I have a bloody detention with Snape. And if that's not enough Granger's going to be there too. Blimey. She was blabbing on in class and the next thing I know Snape's telling us off," Harry said, still quite bitter about the whole thing.

"That's too bad. But no worries mate, you'll be on the team anyway. I don't think anyone could replace you. Not even Krum himself!" Ron smiled.

"Thanks Ron. I'll probably make it to the next one."

Harry and Ron continued walking around the castle. Hermione passed by and shot Harry a death glare, but he merely ignored her.

"Whoa. She looks pretty pissed off. What did you do?"

"Nothing. She's just a stupid Slytherin. They're always mad at somebody."

"True. Hey, have you heard about the new transfer student? The person will be the first transfer that Hogwarts has ever had. Hope it's a girl." Ron sighed blushing.

"You would like that wouldn't you!" Harry laughed. "I actually have not heard of that yet. Should be very interesting. Might shake things up a bit around here."

* * *

**A/N: Sooooo. How was that? I found it quite amusing. Little bit of Harry Hermione action that i could squish in there. But now, gasp, Hermione has detention with the person she despises? OR SO SHE THINKS! MUAHHAHA. Jk ppl. Im not that crazy. Kinda. Tell me what ya thought. Read and Review. Thanks :D**


	7. The Escape

**Chapter Seven**

**The Escape**

"Um excuse me?" Jo called over to a girl with auburn hair. "Can I help you? Your looking a little bit lost at the moment. Are you looking for someone in particular?"

"My name is Alex. Actually it's Alexandra, but my friends from Australia call me Alex or Ali. I was looking for a Headmaster Dumbledore. Is he around anywhere?"

"Why yes he is around. We just have to go and find him. Are you a witch from Australia? I've never heard of any schools from there before. It sounds like a cool place. You know I've always secretly wanted to live there." Jo laughed. The girl had just entered the main doors into the castle. Her wavy hair blew behind her. She had beautiful blue eyes, unusual for someone with brown hair. She was wearing muggle clothes- a light denim skirt and a dark blue halter top with a lighter floral print. It looked like something right out of Jo's closet.

"Well I have always wanted to come to England. This is all very new to me. My old school was tiny compared to this. By the way, I haven't got your name yet."

"You can call me Jo."

"Jo? Isn't that a boys name?"

"Isn't Alex a boy's name?" She returned easily. Jo led Alex to the great hall, where Dumbledore was sitting down to dinner. The two cautiously walked up to him, making sure they weren't interrupting any conversations.

"Headmaster?" Jo asked patiently.

"Why yes Ms Granger, what can I do for you? Oh. It looks like I know. This must be Ms. Durstrom. Welcome to Hogwarts Ms. Durstrom! We are very excited to have a new student brought into the school. I don't in fact think that we've ever had one before." The old headmaster exclaimed.

"Thank you very much sir. I've always wanted to come here before. But I do have one question for you. How did you know my name? I'm quite sure I've never met you."

"Lets just say a little bird told me," he chuckled. "I see that you have made good friends with Miss Granger, so after dinner I think we'll have a brief meeting with the sorting hat."

"Uh, may I ask what the sorting hat is? Do you wear it?"

"The sorting hat will tell you which house you ought to be in. It picks one of the four houses for you to stay with. You are in seventh year correct?"

"Yup. That's me."

"Very well then. Go ahead and help yourself to some dinner while I finish myself. I tell you, catching flying toads can drain your energy in a hurry."

"So, Jo. Where can I get sorted into?" The transfer inquired eagerly. She hoped that it would be the same place as her new friend.

"Well there's Slytherin, my house, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff."

"All right. I am quite hungry. Where are you going to be sitting? If it's okay I'd like to have dinner with you and your friends. If not its totally find I underst-"

"Of course you can! Don't be silly!"

The girls approached the Slytherin table. Hermione gave her sister a puzzled look, but Jo ignored it, beaming at the rest of the students.

"Hey, Mione, who is that beauty with your sister?" Blaise asked staring at the unfamiliar face.

"I have no idea! I don't believe I've ever seen her before, not even one of her muggle friends I don't think." Hermione said, unsure of the blue-eyed girl. The boys at the table were apparently transfixed on the girl and the girls were whispering and mumbling amongst each other.

"Everyone, this is Alex, the new transfer student from Australia. Lets be polite and welcome her!" Jo explained. Her voice was followed by a couple hellos and grumbles. Jo pulled up a few seats beside Hermione, across from Blaise and Draco. Draco immediately stood up and greeted the new student.

"Nice to meet you, Alex, was it?" He said kissing the girl gently on the hand.

"My, my, what a charmer we have here Jo! Well I'll be polite too. Your both very handsome men," she smirked, forcing the boys too blush. "What are your names?"

"Draco."

"Blaise."

"Well Draco and Blaise, you two will have to show me around later. Who knows, it could be very fun."

Hermione and Jo rolled their eyes at the blushing wizards. _They had the exact same reaction after meeting my sister._

"Sure." They responded simultaneously. _Jo finally has some competition _Hermione thought to herself snickering.

"How do you like Hogwarts so far?" Hermione inquired.

"It's a very nice, large school compared to the one in Australia. Stristoll School for Wizards and Witches. I myself did not enjoy it that much."

"Never heard of that before," Hermione replied, quite interested in the topic.

Hermione decided to accompany her sister and Alex as she went to be sorted. Along the way Hermione asked many questions about the transfer student's home and school. She found it all very enlightening.

"_Blueberry Shortcake,"_ Jo said to the gargoyle statues as they leapt aside, revealing a long spiral staircase.

"Uh Jos, how on earth did you know the password to Dumbledore's office? He doesn't go around giving it out to whoever wants it... unless you got from a guy! Please don't tell me that you fooled around with some immature loser to get the bloody pass-"

"Calm down sis. Dumbledore gave it to me when he met Alex here for the first time. You know, so she could get sorted later in the evening. Don't have a cow on me!"

"Oh."

The trio climbed the stairs until they reached large, wooden, double doors. Jo knocked three times and was answered with a "Come in," from Dumbledore. Jo twisted the handle and beckoned for Alex and Hermione to follow her. There sat Dumbledore, behind an ancient looking desk with Professor McGonagoll standing right behind him.

"Welcome, again Alexandra, to Hogwarts," The old man said. "I hope our students have been hospitable so far?" He added, looking at Jo and Hermione. He lowered his half moon glasses as he spoke calmly.

"Oh, yes! The school is wonderful! Everyone is being so nice to me." Alex chirped enthusiastically. It was true. This welcome was much better than her old school. The girls were all pompous bitches who thought they ruled the world. She couldn't stand them.

"Excellent. I would only expect the best from our students. Well then, it is time for you to be sorted, Ms. Durstrom." He said with a twinkle in his eye. "Minerva, if you would please,"

"Of course," Professor McGonagoll said, bringing forth the hat. She conjured up a stool out of mid-air and motioned for Alex to sit on it. "Just try it on. Don't worry. The old thing might yell, but it surely won't bite."

Alex confusedly lifted the hat onto her head and waited. Nothing happened for a couple seconds, until a tiny voice coming from the hat startled her.

"Well, well, well. A transfer student. This is quite new to me. Hmm…lots of ambition…Some intelligence as well. Rebellious and spontaneous…well then, it had better be…SLYTHERIN!" 

Professor McGonagoll flicked her wand and the stool dissapeared. The battered ancient hat drifted off into a nearby room for safe keeping.

"Uh… Now what?" Alex asked nervously.

"Miss Durstrom you are now a member of Slytherin. That is the house that you will be in for the remainder of your stay here at Hogwarts. I'm sure that the Granger siblings will help you with your things, and help you find your way around the castle. That will be all for now."

"Thanks professor," Jo responded guiding Alex back to the door.

"Bye girls." Called Dumbledore as they left.

Finally after the three had gotten out of the office Jo squealed "Yay! You're a Slytherin! You can stay with us now. There's an empty bed in the girl's dormitory for you to stay in. They are actually surprisingly comfortable and very cozy. You'll like it, I'm sure."

"Sounds great! Thanks for being so sweet you guys. I can tell that I'm going to have a wicked awesome time here!"

"Wicked awesome?" Jo questioned.

"Yeah, It's just a phrase that we aussies like to use. You know, sometimes you guys say... bloody hell, or blimey. Wicked awesome is something that's well, really awesome."

With that the girls headed off towards the Slytherin common room, as it was getting quite late already. While walking down the dark corridors, Alex was trying to take in all of her surroundings. Finally they arrived at their destination. Hermione headed off to her dormitory, and Jo and Alex went to theirs.

Hermione had been exhausted. She looked around the dorm quietly looking to see who was occupying which beds. Three out of the five beds were filled with girls, all of which were snuggled tightly underneath the covers, filled with deep sleep. Hermione looked back to her pastel yellow pillow, which was now practically calling her name. It seemed so soft and inviting. As soon as Hermione's head made contact with it she fell into a deep slumber.

* * *

Hermione cautiously entered the potions classroom, dreading the detention that she was about to endure. Harry sat silently in the room alone, his foot tapping, waiting for Snape to arrive.

"Okay you two. I have more important matters to deal with at the moment, so I will be locking the door. I expect all of these cauldrons to be absolutely spotless when I come back in three hours," Snape said while leaving.

"Great. Now I have to miss my quidditch practice. Another chance to blow my spot on that team! Blimey."

"Hey Potter, don't you even think for a millisecond, no a nanosecond that you are the only person in here that wishes they were somewhere else. To add to that you are honestly the last person that I would want to be with at the moment. Cripes! I would probably even pick Millicent Bulstrode over you!"

"Wow you sound like you're in a good mood today Granger," he commented, scrubbing a cauldron with an old rag. He was wearing a white golf shirt, which had the Gryffindor emblem carefully embroidered onto the top left corner, as well as a pair of faded jeans, fitting him perfectly. _Everything seems to fit him perfectly._ Hermione shook off her dazed thoughts shortly, also noticing his jet-black hair, unkempt as usual.

"Yeah, well if it wasn't for you talking so loudly during class none of us would be here right now. I could be getting ahead on my assignments and you could be at your stupid quidditch practice. In my opinion quidditch is just a bloody waste of time. Grades and schoolwork are far too important if you ask me."

"Oh yeah, well i didn't ask you, and if I remember correctly Granger you were talking back to me, so really, it's both of our faults."

"Whatever Potter. Just keep cleaning." she snapped bitterly while also vigorously scrubbing a filthy black cauldron. _How do these stupid pieces of junk get so dirty in the first place? Impossible! _She thought as she attempted to scrape some goopy green gunk off the inside of her cauldron. _Absolutely atrocious!_

Twenty minutes had gone by before anyone had spoken another word. _This has been the longest detention so far in my life_ Harry thought furiously.

"Blimey! I feel like I've gotten nowhere. I've only cleaned two cauldrons and its already half past three!"

"I may have an idea. He didn't say anything about magic did he?"

"I don't think so… why?"

Hermione responded by teaching him a simple cleaning spell that her sister taught her last year. She had learned it from Dumbledore himself. In another twenty minutes all of the cauldrons were looking spic and span.

"They look brand new!" Harry exclaimed, proud of his work. He moved towards the door and went two open it. "Shit I forgot! He locked the door. We still have about two hours to stay in here. Bloody brilliant."

"I'm going to sit down. My feet hurt already," Hermione complained. She sat in the middle of the room quietly. Harry came over beside her. _Please don't sit beside me, please don't sit beside me, please don't- dammit._ Harry pulled up a chair right next to the girl. He paused and took a deep breath before initiating a conversation with her.

"Granger, I really don't feel like I understand you at all."

"How blunt."

"Thanks," he grinned, which quickly faded. "You said you wanted a truce that day by the lake. But recently in potions class you've been putting me down. What is wrong with you?"

"How nice of you to mention Potter. Now I really feel like shit. Your pretty good at making people feel this way," Hermione yelled. She stood up and turned around, not wanting to look at the wizard.

"I'm serious. I just don't get you."

"Your not the easiest book to read yourself Potter."

"And why is that… Could you explain this to me?"

"Forget it. Never mind. However, I'm willing to put my hatred for you aside, if you help me out."

"Why would I-"

"Because I can get us both out of here. Now shut up and listen. See that window up there? I can't reach it, and I need you to boost me through," she said point to a small opening, high in the stone wall.

"Where does it go? And how am I supposed to get out after you? You're just going to run away aren't you?" He said suspiciously

"I don't know where it bloody goes Potter, but its better than here, wouldn't you agree? And stop asking so many questions!"

"Fine. Lets get a move on then. But stop. What are you going to tell Snape?"

"Uh, lets tell him that Peeves scared us and told us to get out straight away. He ought to believe that"

With that the two went over to the small opening. Harry lifted Hermione onto his firm shoulders and pushed her up as soon as she had a good grip. Hermione looked around, taking a minute to realize where she was.

"Potter! We are in luck! I'm in Filch's office! There's some rope right over here," she said excitedly, throwing over a rather thick piece of braided rope.

"Are you sure that you can hold me? I'm pretty heavy you know Granger, all that muscle that I carry around with me.."

"Climb the rope Potter," she said, annoyed with his boastful tone. The brunette used all over her strength to support Harry as he climbed through to the other side.

"Well that was amusing!" He said.

"Yeah… actually kind of fun."

There was a short awkward silence following that.

"Maybe we should, you know, do this again sometime. Who knows… we could have a good time," he said sheepishly.

"Oh, you mean get into detention, try to clean up disgusting cauldrons, use magic when we aren't supposed to, have a stupid immature fight, break out of detention, defy Snape, and hang out in the caretaker's office?"

"Yeah. We should."

"What do you mean 'we'? Are you trying to imply something here Mister Potter?" Hermione laughed flirtatiously.

"Well- I- erm- uh- em…"

"Well what…"

"Nothing… nothing at all."

"In that case, have a nice evening. I hope that we can break some rules again together sometime in the future."

Hermione felt a sudden urge inside of her. She unwillingly listened to it and gave Harry a warm kiss on the cheek. His cheek sent a wave of electricity through her whole body, making her shiver on the spot. _There. You still haven't stolen my first kiss._ The wizard simply stood there, his emerald eyes very unsure.

"Is that what you do? Kiss someone after saying goodnight and then just leave them there?"

"Uh huh." she laughed.

"Just leave them there to sit and ponder all alone? In the meanwhile they will most likely get caught because they've been standing aimlessly in Filch's office for the past hour or so. Is that what your trying to do to me Granger?"

"Yeah. I think so."

"Well in that case. You have a good evening too," he sighed, watching her set off down the empty hallway.

_Hermione Granger your insane… but its kind of growing on me _Harry thought as the brunette faded off into the distance.

* * *

**A/N: YAY! Ohmygodohmygodohmygod!!!! EEEHEHEHEE! I absolutely loved writing that chapter. Honestly it was the bomb. What can i say? I'm supposed to like it. I'm the writer hehe. Tell me wut you thought about that chappie. Good? Bad? Ugly? Read and Review on your way out. THANKS :D**

**P.S. Thanks to all my reviewers. Your support and suggestions help me to continue on writing this fic. **


	8. Acceptance and Apologies

**Chapter Eight**

**Acceptance and Apologies**

Alex wandered down the halls, looking for the library. The castle was like a maze to her, she hardly new her way around. She had recently attained a new project for Transfiguration, and she, like Jo wanted a good lead on it. She wanted to make a good impression on most of the teachers.

_Ow! What the hell was that? _She thought as she painfully stubbed her toe on a sharp edge. The brunette cringed, and grabbed her foot, holding back a tear in her watering eye. _It would help if I knew where the hell I was going!_

"_Lumos," _She said, wanting to see where she was. It was just after dinner, and students were still allowed to be in the corridors, but it was dark nonetheless.

"Friggin table. Sitting in the middle of nowhere." She exclaimed, still in serious pain, her Australian accent showing through.

"Did that hurt?" came a voice nearby her. The voice sounded familiar, but she had met so many people in the past few days that she couldn't remember this one in particular.

"Who is that? What do you want?" she snapped nervously, awaiting a response. The witch looked around but was dumbstruck, as there was nothing in her view other than the table and herself.

The shadowed figure stepped into the light of her wand. It was Draco, who was smirking seductively at the beautiful brunette. She shortly recognized him after taking a good look at him. His light blue- almost silver- eyes were masked, different from his expression. He wore darks robes, which were still partially hidden in the shadows.

"It's me. Draco. I really think that I should be asking you the question. What are you doing here in the night? This is the third floor. It's forbidden to all students, all the time. Didn't you know that?"

"Oh. In that case I guess I better be going, I'll see you later, _Draco." _ She said while heading in the other direction eagerly. She blew him a brief kiss, practically making him melt.

"Really? I think you should stay," he replied forcefully, grabbing her arm. He moved close to her, and the scent of her hair overcame him. Desire madly ran throughout his body. He could hardly control his actions. Alex sharply pulled away from the muscular boy. It tortured him.

"Draco, I'm not that kind of girl. You don't want to be doing this. I don't want to have to-"

"I doubt that Durstrom." He said, fiercely claiming her lips with his own. His soft hands began to slide around her hips, trying to pull her in towards him. He loved the feeling of her body against his own, yet she was struggling against him. The blond only overpowered her, forcing himself on her even more.

"What are you- stop it!" She yelled, pushing him off her with great strength. At first, he held on too tight for her to remove herself from his grasp. He continually forced his lips onto hers, shooting electricity throughout him. "Draco, I'm telling you- get off ME!"

He ignored her comments and her voice was muffled as he continued to kiss the girl passionately. Suddenly he felt a surge of power in his shoulders as he was hurled backwards into the wall behind him. He looked back at Alex who was staring angrily at him.

"How- what did you- Why-"

"I told you to fucking let go of me. I did not want to have to hurt you. But it doesn't matter anymore. I told you this already. I'm not some kind of cheap whore that you can take as you please. Who the _fuck_ do you think you are Draco? You know, at first I thought that you would be a polite, charming boy who maybe even had a chance with me. Apparently I thought wrong. I should've known that you'd have been a regular asshole from the start.

Alex stormed off, finding the closest staircase. _I can't believe him. He's scum._ She turned around to scold him one more time before leaving him sinking into the floor. She wiped her lips with her sleeve, pissed off at the stupid guy.

"If you so much as touch me one more time I will beat the shit right out of you. FUCK YOU!"

Jo was sitting in the library, twiddling her thumbs waiting for her new friend to come and meet her. They were planning to go over the Transfiguration project, but she was already ten minutes late. _So far she's been pretty punctual_ Jo thought, becoming anxious. She looked at the clock which was ticking rather slowly... _Tick.. Tock... Tick... Tock_

"Jo? There you are! Listen, I'm terribly sorry that I'm so late, but I got totally lost and then I ran into that creep that you introduced me to earlier in the week. He was being complete jackass. He was trying to come onto me or something," She said, obviously extremely frustrated. Her expression was fiery and fierce.

"Are you by any chance talking about Draco? What'd he do this time?"

"Yes Draco, that's the one. I was minding my own business when I stubbed my toe. Then out of nowhere he shows up and tries to make out with me. He protested and wouldn't back off, so I basically threw him into the wall and left him to sit and rot."

"Whoa. That is so not the Draco that I know!" Jo said in shock of her sister's best friend. "Weird!"

"Whatever, lets just get to this homework. I need to get my mind off this shit for now. I've got a headache already."

The girls worked hard for the next hour or so. The commotion in the library was beginning to die down as students were heading off to bed. They actually enjoyed it better this way. It was much easier to work, and Alex's headache faded away.

"Do you think I should apologize? I kind of feel bad for hurting him the way I did," Alex said, catching Jo off guard. Her energy had slowed down and she was calm as her usual self again.

"Umm, it's really your choice. I can't decide that for you. But I think that he can be a good guy if you get to know him well. Maybe give him another chance," Jo advised.

"I guess so. Hopefully he's learned something in the past couple hours."

* * *

Hermione was grinning to herself uncontrollably. She felt the happiest she had in so long. It was truly amazing. Especially since lately Jo was getting on her nerves with her boyfriend.

"_Girls just wanna have fu-un, Oh-oh girls just wanna ha-ave fun," _She sang to herself as she waltzed alone in the common room.

"Someone is obviously in a good mood," said a smirking Pansy Parkinson. The blond had just walked in on Hermione's brief solo.

"Of course! Who wouldn't be in a good mood after- on a Friday night! It's nearly the weekend." She muttered.

"You don't expect me to believe that bullshit do you Granger?" Pansy inquired hastily. "Now tell me the truth. What really happened? Weren't you just in detention?"

"Yup. But now it's over. So I think I'll go to bed now."

Once again, Hermione woke up in song, singing loudly to anything and everything that popped into her head. Since last night she felt as though she had been floating on cloud nine. She hardly paid attention to anybody, only replaying those last moments she spent with Harry. Also she was constantly wondering whether he was sharing these crazy thoughts with her.

"Draco? Listen. I want to accept your apology from yesterday. I was in a bad mood at the time. But now I'm thinking clearly," she said, running up to the wizard and pulling him into a warm embrace.

"Thanks Granger. I'm sorry for being such an ass."

"Ah, forget it. I'll blame it on your reputation," Hermione laughed. She decided that she would go for a quick walk outside, down to the lake, the very spot where Harry and herself shared their first quarrel-free conversation.

As she stepped outside of the castle she felt the warm sun beaming upon her face. It was great weather for an October day. A cool breeze whipped across her face as she skipped down the steps and onto a narrow dirt path.

_"Never knew… I could feel like this/ Like I've never seen the sky before/ I want to vanish… inside your kiss… everyday I'm lov-" _She stopped herself from continuing on with the song, her favourite song. The next words were "everyday I'm loving you more, and more."

Her hair blew behind her in the wind as she carried onto the lake. She found a large rock; stable enough to support her weight. A glimmer in the lake caught her eye while she was getting comfortable. She took a better look and noticed that the lake was parting to form words in a tiny corner.

_Hey. I knew that you would be here. I already stopped by this_

_ morning. I was wondering if you would meet me tonight on the quidditch _

_ pitch. If I recall, you owe me a race. I'll bring the brooms._

The water filled up the spaces again, without a trace of the writing. _I guess I could meet him. I mean, what's the worst that could happen? _ Hermione thought to herself as she let her thoughts roll around in her head.

* * *

Alex looked around the castle, frantically searching for Draco. _I'm never gonna find him dammit! _Alex thought as she called it quits, entering the common room. _ All of that for nothing! _There was Draco, sitting in front of the fireplace in a large armchair. Alex easily spotted a dark bruise on the back of his neck as she stepped towards him.

"Draco," she said quietly, gently touching his bruise. He winced and grunted in reply, shrugging her off. "Draco, I'm sorry," Alex continued. "If you'll forgive me, I'm willing to give you another chance."

"Can't see how you would bloody want to," he grumbled.

"Well I do. And yes, I do want to give you another chance. I think it would just be best for us if we completely started over."

"Fine. Do whatever you want," Draco groaned, sinking further into the comfy armchair.

"Uh, okay. Hi. My name is Alexandra Durstrom, but you can call me Alex… or Ali if you prefer."

Draco smirked back at the witch in deep appreciation, his eyes sparkling brightly. He followed suit.

"Nice to meet you Durstrom. My name is Draco Malfoy. It's a good thing to know me in this school. I'll guide you to the popularity you've always dreamt of," he laughed. He once again kissed her soft hand gently.

"Wow! What a charmer. We will definitely have to spend some time together soon. Maybe you can show me around the school or something."

"Sound's hot."

"Excuse me?"

"I mean, you know, hot as in its very hot outside," he recovered. Alex chuckled at him and punched him playfully in the shoulder.

"Ah! Not there! Bruise!"

"Oh, sorry. Does ickle Drakie want Alex to kiss it better? I bet he would! But too bad. No kissies for Drakie."

"Aw. Rip off."

"Well unfortunately that's what you get after coming on to me and forcing me to throw you into a wall. Quite painful I imagine."

"Between you and me, you have no idea."

* * *

Hermione must have spent a good twenty minutes on contemplating whether or not she should join Harry that night. Her mind kept saying no, but her gut feeling led her on.

"Shit! What am I going to wear! I have no help either! I'm definitely not asking Pansy. She'll dress me up like a slut!"

_Oh! I know! Jo and Alex can help!_

As soon as she had found the two girls they immediately accepted the challenge. Jo ran to get her makeup while Alex began to tear apart her closet.

"One. What are you doing? Two. Where are you going to be?" she inquired, eyeing a couple outfits.

"Well I think that I'm going to be flying, outside. It's chilly I think."

"Well that rules out skirts then."

Alex found a white long sleeve blouse that looked perfect, but the only problem was it was old ladyish and about five sizes too big.

"Okay. Just put this on and I'll make a couple adjustments."

Hermione threw on the shirt, allowing Alex to think about it for a minute. She slowly began to roll up the sleeves until they were three quarter length. Also she grabbed the two loose ends in front and tied them up, revealing about an inch of her stomach. Once the helpful brunette turned away she pulled it back down.

Jo came into the room, hands full of makeup and every hair product imaginable.

"Looks good so far. I say jean capris with that."

"Oh good call Jo. That will look perfect." Alex responded rummaging for the pants. After searching for a short while she finally found the pair that would match well with the shirt she had picked out.

"Now Mione, no offence but we really need to do something about your hair. Its all over the place!"

Alex and Jo swarmed Hermione, applying subtle make up, simply to bring out her eyes. Alex then took out her wand, gave it a flick and in seconds, the youngest girl's hair was newly arranged with soft curls.

"You look great Mione! Hug!" Jo said hugging her sister ever so tightly. "Now go knock em dead sis. Whoever the lucky guy is. I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun."

* * *

**A/N: OMG! THis is so exciting! Hermione's going on a DATE! gasp.. well kind of a date. Okay not a real date but hey... alone time with Harry is always gonna be good. I'm thrilled about writing the next chapter. A penny for your thoughts on how this encounter should go. I'll try and incorporate it. Thankee. Especially reviewers.**

**Read and Review!!!:D**


	9. The Race

**Chapter Nine**

**The Race**

The autumn weather was noticeable as Hermione stepped outside, the cold, crisp wind nipping at her nose. As she stepped down the stone front steps, she could see the vividly green Quidditch pitch in the corner of her eye, calling out to her. She turned to walk in the direction of the pitch, wondering fiercely what was going to happen when she finally arrived.

He better bring me a decent broom, I'll bet he tries to sabotage me just so he can win and boast to his friends that he beat a Slytherin…_ He'll probably bring me a bad broom, but say it's great: he thinks I'm a terrible flyer._

Hermione squinted as she came up on the Quidditch pitch. Slowing her pace, as though not to seem too eager, she walked eagerly past the stands, trying to cast a cool and calm impression on the awaiting Gryffindor. Her casual approach would have worked perfectly… If Harry had indeed already been there.

Where the hell is he? She thought, slightly annoyed at his absence.

Alas, she had spoken too soon. "Sorry I'm late Granger," came the boy's voice from behind Hermione.

"Oh!" The abrupt presence of the Gryffindor startled Hermione. "Don't _do_ that, Potter, you could give someone a heart attack!" Much to her chagrin, Harry had walked in just in time to see Hermione had lost her smooth and collected visage.

Harry discreetly attempted to look Hermione up and down, checking out her outfit. When he had first walked on to the pitch, he had hardly recognized her from behind, as her hair was no longer the tangled mess it usually was, but subtle, sexy curls. When he realized that Hermione had noticed his stare, he raised an eyebrow. "Trying to impress me?"

Hermione snorted to cover up her slight blushing. "I'd ask you the same, Potter." She had noticed right away that it looked as though Harry had taken a bit more time getting ready than he usually did. He sported a deep red coloured sweater which, Hermione noticed, showed off his rather muscular shoulders. The outfit was completed with simple black trousers and runners.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Depends, Granger."

"On what?"

Harry gave a devilish wink, seemingly sarcastic. "On whether you're impressed or not."

"Hilarious, Potter," Hermione replied with her own wit. "So, what's this about a race?"

Harry pointed to the two broomsticks he had carried out with him. "You promised."

"I did no such thing!"

"'_Save it for the next time,'_" Harry recalled in a mockingly high pitched voice.

Hermione rolled her eyes as she, too, remembered the conversation they had shared by the lake on the day they had been appointed partners. She indeed had told Harry that they would race later. "Oh, fine, let's just get this over with, then."

Harry smirked. "Glad to see you're so excited about this, Granger. Grab a broom."

Hermione looked down at the brooms, trying her hardest to look as though she hadn't the faintest idea what to look for.

Truth be told, Hermione was an expert flyer, a natural. The summer after Jo's first year at Hogwarts, her sister had come back and explained every little detail about her magical life, putting a deep emphasis on flying broomsticks. Since then, Hermione had always taken a particular interest in it. She had never liked the idea of flying for sport, as she had never been interested in any sports, but flying gave her a liberating feeling, like she was free of any stresses or worries she had back on the ground.

Hermione's face fell when she realized that Harry had brought two Nimbus 2000s. "I thought that I'd be fair and bring two equal brooms, so there was no cheating involved," he pitched in.

"I see. Good thinking," was her reply.

"So…" Harry said, picking up one of the identical brooms. "Mount your broom, Granger. Move it, or lose it!"

Hermione laughed at his comment, as she picked up the remaining broom. "I won't be losing, don't worry." She smirked at the look of skepticism on his face. _It'll be hilarious to see his face when he realized I can actually fly_.

"Alright, once around the entire castle, finishing at the center of the pitch. Sound good?"

Hermione pretended to be immersed in the thought as she got ready to take off.

"Granger? You there? Is that alright?"

"Eat my dust, Potter." And with that, she kicked off the ground and soared through the air, beginning the single lap race.

"What the… YOU'LL PAY, GRANGER!" Harry yelled after the retreating figure, immediately kicking off and following suit.

Hermione slowed her pace down. She decided she would act as though she had no idea what she was doing for the first bit, and once the moment came, she would blow right by her opponent. _Build him up high, then tear him down quick_.

It didn't take long for Harry to catch up with Hermione's dawdling pace. He slowed down as he came up beside her. "That was uncalled for, Granger!"

Hermione smiled in a sickeningly sweet way. "Whatever do you mean, boy?"

"You know very well what I mean," he replied. He held himself back from veering her off course, as she didn't know how to fly. "I'll go easy on you, okay?" He sped up to fly two or three feet ahead of her.

Hermione exerted a bit more speed, catching up with the Gryffindor Seeker easily. "What did you say? Sorry, it's just that you sped ahead, there…"

Harry looked at Hermione in disbelief, wondering how on Earth she was able to keep up with him and not fall off of her broom. "How…?"

"Oh, you know," said Hermione in a fairly airy tone, "a girl's got to do what a girl's got to do!"

Harry had no time to retort, as all of a sudden, the brunette explosively took off, creating an astonishingly quick pace for herself.

As the pair came to the first bend, Harry realized there was something Hermione hadn't bothered to tell him. Wondering why she was so… _good_… Harry slowly picked up his pace, strategically taking his time to catch up with her.

Hermione came up to the halfway point, exhilaration running through her veins. Her mood faltered, though, when she heard a zooming figure come up behind her.

Harry seemed out of breath as he finally came to Hermione's side. "You can fly."

"You noticed," Hermione said with a tiny smirk.

"I can't believe you didn't tell me!" Harry exclaimed, having to yell over the rushing wind.

"Shut up and fly, Potter," came Hermione's short reply. Her face screwed up in determination as she willed her broom to fly faster.

Harry wasn't going to let Hermione go that easily this time, however. He kept in pace with her, not letting her out of within a foot of him. "It's a race now, Granger!"

Hermione forced herself lower on her broom, trying to aerodynamically enhance her position.

Harry could feel a familiar rush welling up inside him. The feeling of chasing his goal and racing alongside another flyer reminded him strongly of his favorite pastime. _This is just another Quidditch match… That's all._

Harry could no longer recognize Hermione as the fairly pretty Slytherin he had been racing moments now. All he could see now was an ugly opponent, flying after the Snitch. Harry pressed himself against the broom he had borrowed without permission from the broom closet, and expertly moved up to be exactly in line with the assailant.

Even the flowing brown hair and lack of Quidditch robes couldn't bring Harry out of his reverie. He tried maniacally to pass his competitor.

Hermione turned her head slightly to look at Harry. She was slightly surprised at the intense expression of concentration etched on his features. She turned back around and leaned onto her broom even more.

Harry began to get frustrated at the lack of progression his attempt was making. After trying one last time to exert all his forces and pass his rival, he let out a yell of irritation and as he did regularly during Quidditch matches, forcefully checked his broomstick into the one riding beside him.

Hermione screamed in a mixture of fright and surprise. She had expected Harry to be intense, but never would she have been ready for the powerful blow he had just administered. She continued to scream as she fell off of her broom and plummeted eight or nine feet, to the ground.

Hermione's screaming finally shook Harry out of his aura of concentration. _Shit, what did I do that for?_ He yelled inwardly. Once again, though, his Quidditch instincts took a hold of him, as he followed Hermione towards the ground, chasing after her as if she was the prized Snitch.

Unfortunately, though, mere inches separated his reach from her arm.

"Oomph!" Hermione grunted. She had been expecting, throughout her screaming, to experience excruciating pain once she had hit the ground. She thanked Merlin, though, that their race had taken them over the Herbology greenhouses. Hermione had fallen in one of Professor Sprout's bushes outside of Greenhouse One, slightly cushioning her fall. However, the pain was not absent, and she began to groan in discomfort.

Harry hastily touched ground and threw his broom away and he ran over to the fallen girl. "Oh my God, Hermione, I'm so sorry!"

Hermione continued to express her affliction as she felt Harry's presence beside her. She looked up to see his worried expression.

"Oh God, oh God, oh God… Say something, Hermione!"

Hermione stopped making noise as she came to a realization. "You called me 'Hermione.'"

An immense look of relief swept over Harry. "You're okay!"

"Why did you do that?"

He shook his head in regret. "Blimey, I'm such a git, Hermione. The race just got so intense, I couldn't help it…It was like a Quidditch match, or something. I couldn't even see your face anymore, you were just a member of the other team…"

Hermione was still wincing in pain. Nevertheless, the anguish didn't relieve her of sarcasm. "That's a little bit disturbing… I think you may have a problem."

Harry couldn't help but laugh at her. His mirth wavered, though, as he saw Hermione's face express her utter distress.

"I can't laugh, it hurts too much," she said.

Harry leaned over her. "Where does it hurt?" he asked. He began to apply pressure to different parts on her torso, examining her face to read any extra soreness.

Hermione felt another jolt. This time, however, it was not inflicted by pain. It was something else…

"Ow," she said softly, no longer concentrating on the pain, but on the look of concern on Harry's face.

A lock of hair rested on his forehead as he reached across to carefully touch her shoulder. He didn't bother to sweep away the offending strand. Harry put a slight pressure on her shoulder, and quickly retreated when he saw the look of pain on her face. "Did that hurt?"

"Kind of," she replied quietly.

Slowly, his hand started to move across her shoulder, and with hesitation, he deliberately began to follow the soft curve of her neckline.

Hermione leaned into his touch, softly closing her eyes. She couldn't even feel the pain anymore: all she felt was Harry's hand on her neck. Without hesitation, and out of instinct, she placed her hand on his.

Harry stopped moving. _What's she doing?_ he asked himself confusedly.

"Harry…" Hermione's voice wavered slightly.

"What is it? What's wrong?" he asked with concern. Hermione did not respond this time. She sat up slowly, trying to masking the soreness. Her mind clouded over. Hermione looked at Harry, who was kneeling right in front of her. She cocked to the side and traced his lips with her finger. Harry gazed at her enraptured by her touch. He cupped his hands around her face, staring at her intently. Unaware of what he was doing he pulled her in close, brushed her finger aside and claimed her lips with his own.

The suddenness of Harry's movements surprised her, yet she did not protest as she wrapped her arms around his taught shoulders. She shivered at the warmth of the kiss, her heart racing wildly.

Harry had kissed many others, many times, but during none of them had he felt the same as he did now. He felt as though he was meant for her, their two different worlds brought together at last. He lost all control as he deepened the kiss, pulling her in closer as he did so.

Soon both felt the need for air, as they slowly pulled away from each other.

"So. Who won the race?" Hermione said softly with a playful tone.

"Don't talk Granger." He responded restlessly once engaging in a passionate kiss.

* * *

**A/N: Oh my god. I am totally out of breath. Whew. Kay. I dont know if that sounded really stupid to you guys but it sounded wonderful to me. Also my cousin (pannalid) who helped write this chapter of bliss. Plz read and review. Thanks to my reviewers. :D**


	10. The Hospital Wing

**Chapter Ten**

**The Hospital Wing**

Harry was speechless. Hermione beamed up at him, no longer showing any signs of pain whatsoever. Her clothes were stained of dirt from the horrible accident that occurred seconds ago, her head throbbing from the pain, and her eyes red and puffy from the tears. However it was no longer the first thing on her mind. Harry, unsure of what to do next broke the silence.

"Well, I guess we better get going." He said. _Arg! You idiot. Out of all the things that you could've said… those are words you picked? _He thought looking away from Hermione. "Uh… Can you even move?"

Hermione used up all of her strength to attempt to stand up, but her legs could not support her. "I-I can't. I can't stand up."

"Oh shit. I'm so sorry Hermione, I feel terrible for what happened," he said in shame. "I'll carry you to the hospital wing."

"All right. Are you sure you can lift me? I've got all that muscle on me you know," she smirked. Harry easily picked her up, carrying her in front of him. He actually got a long way before his arms began to hurt, when he motioned her to climb on his back. The simple transition took quite a bit of time.

Hermione playfully kissed Harry on the cheek along the way; making him blush each time he felt her lips upon him.

Finally they approached the hospital wing, which was completely empty. Harry picked the nearest bed and gently placed Hermione on top of it.

"I have to go now," he said reluctantly. He didn't really have to go. He had nothing to do, however late it was. It was a Saturday night and he was already fairly ahead on his homework. He started to trudge out of the room, leaving Hermione helpless on the hospital bed.

"Harry, wait." Hermione said softly. He cautiously returned to the brunette's side. She continued to gaze deeply into his emerald orbs. "I just wanted to say, that I had an amazing time tonight."

Harry stomach did a somersault at the comment. "Me too." He said catching her lips in a gentle kiss. It felt so different. He had never kissed a girl this way before, and never expected he would. He loved every second of it though. He hesitantly pulled away, never wanting the great feeling to cease. He stroked her cheek softly and backed away.

"I'll come by in the morning, when nobody's around. I promise."

Hermione blew him a quick kiss. "Good night."

* * *

"Has anybody seen Hermione?" Draco asked, wandering through the common room. They were supposed to get ahead on their most recent potions assignment on Unicorn blood. By this time the brown-eyed girl was usually up and about, having breakfast or doing work. "Pansy! Was Hermione in the girl's dormitory still when you left?" 

"Umm. No. As a matter of fact, I didn't see her all night since ten or so. I have no idea where she could've been."

Draco shortly found Blaise and asked him the same question, worrying about his friend.

"No mate, haven't seen her either. Maybe she's in the great hall?"

"Good idea. I think I'll look there. I'll be back in a few," he said stumbling to the door. _If she's not there where on earth could she be? She's not in the library, its not even open yet. The kitchen? Unlikely. Outside? I don't think so either. She told me she would wait in the common room, just like she always does. _Draco thought suspiciously.

"Draco! Hi! How are you?" a familiar voice asked, stopping him in his tracks. It was none other then Alex Durstrom.

"Oh hullo. I'm fine. Do you need something? Because I'm kind of looking for Hermione right now and I have no clue as to where she is."

"Well actually I was wondering if you knew about the trip to Hogsmeade next weekend. I already have the permission slip signed and well… ah what the hell- do you want to go with me? You know, show me around and stuff. I've never been there before so I think I'll be a bit lost," she explained looking at the ground.

"Yeah I'd love to!"

"Great! I'll see you there then?"

"For sure!" he said, receiving an unexpected hug from the seventh year. Draco could hardly believe his luck. First Hermione forgives him, along with Alex. And now she's asking him on a date? _Well it can't really be a date can it? After what I did to her? _He was slowly becoming sidetracked from his main objective for the morning- finding Hermione.

"Oh and by the way Draco, Hermione is in the hospital wing. Jo told me. Apparently she fell down the stairs and got bruised pretty badly, so she stumbled her way to Madame Pomfrey last night."

_Oh no! _Draco thought nervously. _I hope she's all right! _The blond felt his pace quickening as he strode to find the injured girl.

As soon as he arrived he saw Hermione sleeping on the bed nearest to the entrance. Her eyes opened and she smiled at the sight of her friend.

"Hey."

"Hey." He said, thankful that she was talking to him. "I came as soon as I heard. How are you? Are you okay? Are you still in pain? How did this happen?"

"Don't be ridiculous Malfoy," Hermione laughed. "I'm perfectly fine. Well, maybe not perfectly fine, but I'm okay. Madame Pomfrey said that I bruised by spine terribly, and I'll be out of here by the end of the week. I'll be able to go to Hogsmeade with you guys!"

Draco immediately looked down at the floor sheepishly. "Well- uh- you see… I already kind of made plans… without you."

"You prat!" she chuckled amused at his worry. "I know! You're going with Alex aren't you?"

"There's a possibility," he grinned.

Hermione plainly rolled her eyes. "I knew it. Don't worry about it. I'll find someone else to go with. Now make sure you don't try to pull any funny stunts on her like that last one, because she will surely pummel you!"

"How did you know about that?" he asked angrily.

"Lets just say a little bird named Alex told me," Hermione smirked. The wizard scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably.

"Do you want me to stay here? For a little while anyway. I have quidditch practice later in-"

"I'll be fine. You go do whatever you were planning to do," she said. "One more thing, though. Could you bring the homework for the rest of the week?"

"Of course. I'll see you later Mione."

* * *

"All right everyone. Great work today. Our next practice will be on Wednesday at seven-thirty. Come ready for a tough practice," announced newest quidditch captain of the Gryffindors, Jeff Helmcreft. Jeff was overall a good captain, but tended to get quite temperamental at times. He had come a very long way as a player, now in seventh year. He would most likely eventually be playing for a professional team. 

"Harry you were really on today mate! Never seen you fly that fast before. It was incredible!" exclaimed Jeff, excited with the seeker's performance.

"Yeah… I was out practicing last night. It helped a lot."

"Well whatever it was, keep working on it! You can only get better."

Harry smiled to himself, remembering the events of the previous night, which had constantly been on his mind. He could hardly stop thinking about Hermione. It gave him shivers to merely think about her. Nothing seemed to bother him, not even the horrendous weather. The conditions for a practice were horrific, but nothing could put a damper on Harry's mood.

His robes were soaked. He strolled into the changing room, quickly getting into his muggle clothes. Today he had decided on a plain black turtleneck and jeans, which was warmer than his previous attire thus far. He did not even bother to talk to Ron after practice.

As he strolled down the corridors he remembered his promise with the Slytherin girl. _Dammit! I was supposed to meet her hours ago! _He thought inwardly. He rushed to his dorm to pick up the Marauder's map that he had retrieved years ago.

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good," he whispered, unfolding the secrets of the magical map. He looked for the hospital wing and noticed that Draco had just left. Other than that the coast was clear. Most students were now in the great hall having lunch.

Minutes felt like hours as he raced down the halls to reach Hermione. He couldn't bear to keep her waiting. At last he found her, engrossed in the latest issue of the daily prophet.

She glanced over at Harry, and then to the clock.

"Hmm. It's twelve fifty-six. What happened to I'll meet you in the morning?" she said sternly, concealing a grin.

"I had important things to deal with Granger. I am quite an important guy, you know."

"Aren't you sounding pompous? Got something up your ass today?" she laughed childishly.

"You've definitely crossed the line now Granger," he said closing the distance between them. "How are you feeling anyway?"

"Considering the fall I took the other day, not bad." She told him calmly. He slowly knelt down beside the girl.

"I have to say, you look great. I was an idiot yesterday not to tell you. I'm such a jerk."

"Here, here!"

"Thanks. You don't have to bloody rub it in. Hey are you going to Hogsmeade next weekend?"

"I don't know yet? Why the sudden question?"

"Well I'm not, and I wanted to know if you wanted to hang out over the weekend. Almost all the Gryffindors are going, so it would be nice and quiet here at the castle. What do you think?"

"Lets see. Should I hang out with jerk-face Potter?" she inquired out loud, giggling at his reaction. "Oh I guess so. As long as you don't find another crazy reason to kiss me again."

"_Hermione," _He cooed. "I don't need a crazy reason to kiss you."

This statement took Hermione aback. She pulled him in for an aggressive kiss, pushing her lips firmly to his own. She felt her hands running through his hair, and his bringing her towards him.

"OW!" she yelped, wincing in pain. Harry dropped her stupidly.

"Oh god, what did I do this time?" he asked nervously.

"Its my neck! It hurts like crazy when I lean forward like that."

"Oops. Let's see if doctor Potter can fix it," Harry said, leaning in to kiss her neck.

"Does it hurt here?" he whispered seductively, causing Hermione's cheeks to attain a light shade of pink. "Or here… Or here?"

He finally found her lips again, sending waves of electricity throughout her body. Her heart raced wildly as he deepened the kiss with more passion then ever before.

Harry pulled away.

"What is it?" Hermione asked upset at the movement.

"Malfoy. He's coming back into the wing. I have to get out of here. Shit! He's really close!" Harry said eyeing his map. Draco's figure paused for a few moments, but only to say a few words to Blaise. Soon he continued on to the door, showing absolutely no signs of stopping.

"HIDE!" Hermione squealed, pointing under the single bed. "Quickly! He's nearly in the bloody door."

"Draco? What are you doing back here so soon? I thought you had quidditch practice. Was it cancelled?" Hermione asked looking quite frazzled.. She could feel Harry poking the mattress in different spots as he shifted beneath her.

"No, no. I forgot my watch. My father gave it to me a long time ago. I wouldn't want to lose it… hey did you hear something?"

Hermione coughed loudly. "Um no not at all."

Harry squirmed under the bed, trying to be silent. He accidentally pushed the bed skirt with his left arm, causing it to shake.

"Hermione! I think there's something under the bed!" Draco exclaimed. "I just saw it move!"

"Oh I'm sure it was nothing, Draco just leave it."

Harry held his breath as Draco slowly knelt down and nearly lifted the fabric that blocked him from sight. His body was completely still.

"DRACO!" Hermione yelled. He stopped only for a second.

"What is-"

"I- uh- well- you see I..."

"Blimey Hermione! What is the bloody problem here? Stop wasting my bloody time," he said, inching towards the stone floor. Hermione was running out of ideas. She was becoming desperate. _Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh shit here goes nothing! _She thought frantically as she planted a kiss on Draco's lips.

He was taken aback by the sudden gesture. He had never expected Hermione of all people to do something as crazy as that. He stared at her in confusion.

"Uh, Hermione? Is there something that you need to tell me here? I'm sorry but I don't exactly feel the same way about you. I just want to be friends."

"Oh it was nothing Draco. I only wanted to see what it was like to kiss a Malfoy," she chuckled seductively. Draco blushed a light shade of pink and looked to the floor, but recovered momentarily.

"Well you must have enjoyed it. I guess I'll catch you later then," he said, grabbing his watch and heading for the door. Both Harry and Hermione simultaneously sighed in relief.

Harry crawled out from his uncomfortable position underneath the bed.

"Good save," Harry said nonchalanty trying to hide jealousy. _What the fuck was that? She was just bloody kissing me. Who the hell does she think she is? _He thought inwardly.

Hermione could tell that Harry was upset. "I was out of ideas, and how could I explain the situation if he actually found you?"

"Whatever. I don't care."

"Do you want to know what it felt like?" she asked quitely, beckoning him towards her.

* * *

**A/N: another chappie of goodness. Thats all i gotta say this time. Please read and review. Thanks reviewers. :D**


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